In Tortosa, the grandson of a local guard is asking for full institutional recognition for his grandfather’s loyalty to the Second Republic during the Spanish Civil War. Daniel Lorente says the family wants the record corrected after a Francoist conviction against Francesc Lorente was annulled.
Mr Lorente says the actions of police officers who opposed the coup d’état should be recognised, along with their work in defending citizens’ rights. He has also called for an institutional tribute and the professional rehabilitation of his grandfather.
The family submitted that request in March 2025, but says it has not yet received a response. For background on the wider policy area, see our news coverage.
In September 2025, the Secretariat of Democratic Memory issued a resolution that recognised Francesc Lorente as a victim of Francoist persecution and annulled the court martial that sentenced him to twelve years in prison for aiding rebellion. The family says that step is important, but still incomplete because it does not restore his status as an agent or rehabilitate his rank.
Francesc Lorente was born in Tortosa in 1910. He was arrested in May 1939 and tried by court martial in Tarragona in August that year, where he was sentenced to twelve years and one day in prison.
He served his sentence in Reus prison until 1941, when he was released. He later received a pardon in 1946. The family says the judicial process still had a lasting impact, and that they had to rebuild their lives outside Spain.
The case adds to the wider debate in Catalonia over how democratic memory laws should recognise public servants who stayed loyal to the Republic, especially in cases linked to proceedings in Tarragona and the Terres de l’Ebre.
