Spanish judge shelves landmark case of Franco-era torture victim

Julio Pacheco became the first person to testify before a Spanish judge investigating allegations of torture during the dictatorship in September 2023. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images

Hopes of securing justice for people tortured under the four-decade Franco dictatorship in Spain have suffered a major setback after a judge in Madrid shelved a landmark investigation into a teenager tortured by police three months before the dictator’s death.

Julio Pacheco was a 19-year-old student and anti-Franco activist when he was arrested in August 1975 on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a police officer. He was taken to the infamous headquarters of the Directorate-General for Security in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where secret police officers tortured him for seven days before he was imprisoned for “terrorism”.