First Civil War mass grave exhumed in Catalan government initiative

Catalan foreign minister, Raül Romeva, visited the first Spanish Civil War common burial site to be exhumed in Catalonia as part of the Catalan government’s 2017-2018 mass grave plan, on Wednesday. The exhumation in the north-western town of Figuerola d’Orcau, in the Catalan Pyrenees, found the remains of 17 bodies that were lined up and buried with military elements, such as uniforms, boots and ammunition belts, which makes experts think they were soldiers. The remains will now be genetically analysed so that they can be identified in the future.

The Catalan government launched a genetic identification program last year, in which relatives of people who went missing in the Civil War can register their genetic profile. This data will be cross-referenced with the genetic information gathered in the exhumations, such as the one started today and those to be carried out in the coming months. “The mass graves plan was launched as an annual project, but seeing how the first operations have developed, we felt it necessary for it to become a biannual initiative, which could be extended for two more years, while we tripled its budget,” said minister Romeva.