EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR FRANCO COULD BRING HEFTY FINE

Backers of General Francisco Franco have promised to use the courts to fight a new law banning expressions of support for Spain's former dictator. The left-wing coalition government passed a draft bill which would impose fines on anyone who supports Franco's fascist regime and “denigrates or demeans the dignity of the victims” of the 1936 to 1939 Spanish Civil War. Under the terms of the legislation, the Francisco Franco Foundation, which promotes the dictator's legacy, could be abolished. Expressing support for Franco or his supporters and ideas will carry a maximum fine of euros 150,000 ($225,000). Franco's dictatorship lasted nearly 40 years until his 1975 death. The Foundation Francisco Franco condemned the law as “unconstitutional.”