Madrid (EFE).- The forensic work to exhume 128 victims of the Cuelgamuros Valley (former Valley of the Fallen) begins this Monday with the search for 18 bodies claimed by their relatives located in the crypt of the Holy Sepulcher chapel, in level 0, including the Lapeña brothers, from Villarroya de la Sierra (Zaragoza).
Subsequently, work will continue on levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the same chapel in search of 59 claimed bodies and the rest, until the search for the 128 bodies is complete, will be addressed in a second phase in other chapels of the basilica. Sources from the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory have reported.
These exhumation works take place “once all the legal, technical and security obstacles have been cleared,” according to the same sources, which assure that they will be carried out “in an act of dignity and maximum respect for those buried there.”
Most of the bodies, in the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher
Most of the bodies requested by relatives are located in the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, including those of the brothers Manuel and Antonio Ramiro Lapeña, shot in 1936 by the Francoists and whose exhumation is also mandatory in compliance with a court ruling. of 2016.
The intervention in the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher will be done from the bottom floor upwards, to gradually consolidate and shore up each of the five floors where there are burials.
The next of kin were notified this morning of the start of the forensic work, according to EFE, the lawyer for victims of the Franco regime, Eduardo Ranz.
The Government resumed the exhumation work last December with a preliminary conditioning phase that consisted of enabling access to the columbariums, securing the architectural structures that needed it and implementing the occupational safety protocols “for an intervention of this complexity”. , as the ministry explains in the notification sent to relatives.
forensic intervention
This Monday the forensic intervention itself begins, which will consist of the search and location of the bodies, as far as technically possible, and the corresponding genetic analyzes that may lead to identifications.
“We can guarantee that the forensic experts who will be in charge of this task are prepared and have extensive proven experience in this type of investigation. The forensic intervention will be carried out using internationally recognized protocols and the reference laboratories are accredited in this field,” the ministry underlines in the notification.
Finally, a phase of conditioning of the columbariums will take place, improving the facilities and the conditions of conservation of the remains buried there.