Spain's Supreme Court has ruled that the government can exhume the remains of former dictator Francisco Franco, rejecting the objections of the Franco family.
The remains will be moved from the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum that was built by the military dictator outside Madrid to a more modest cemetery where his wife is buried.
Franco ruled Spain from the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975.
Critics have said Franco's tomb in the Valley of the Fallen only glorifies the dictator and his brutal regime.
The ruling was a victory for the caretaker government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Party, which had made the exhumation one of its main campaign promises.
In a tweet, Sanchez called the ruling a "great victory for Spanish democracy'' and said it would help "to repair the suffering of the victims of Franco."
Bilateral meeting with the President of Egypt, @AlsisiOfficial, with whom I talked about the jihadist movements still running in Libya and the Sahel and its deep roots. We have also adressed the libyan conflict and the african union, as well as its relation with EU.#UNGA pic.twitter.com/4MiHGtkvLp
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 24, 2019
Sanchez's deputy, Carmen Calvo, said the exhumation would take place "as soon as possible.'' However, Franco's family has said it plans to appeal to the country's Constitutional Court.