A repressive proceeding
The origen of the legal proceeding known as a “General Cause” is found in the Spanish Civil War, and was used as a means of repression for 30 years
On September 13 , after the State Attorney General, José Manuel Maza, cited 712 Catalan mayors to declare for the alleged crime of facilitating the right to vote. A number of jurists have told El Punt Avui that the citations are an anachronism and, “what is more, hark back to the idea of the General Cause.”
The origin of this concept, which is associated with extensive judicial control along with the persecution of ideas is found in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), when new regime wanted to document Republican crimes with a triple objective. First, to refine repression and spread terror among the losers and those not akin to their ideals in their construction of a new state. Second, to remove all traces of Republican ideology and third, to criminalise democracy and democrats in the eyes of Europe, which accepted the rebel general as a lesser evil.
More than this, the Cause strove to establish a moral platform under which any opposition could be grouped together and face the law as a whole. To quote a journalist who directed a Barcelona newspaper for 20 years, you had to “think like Franco, feel like Franco and talk like Franco.”
The express aim to try “the crimes committed throughout the country during the domination of the Reds,” could be used for any unwelcome social or political behaviour. The proceedings themselves were part of summary justice and not included in the Civil Code. The investigations lasted until April 1,1969, when the regime passed a law declaring all offences that were committed before the end of the war, 30 years before, prescribed.