A Spanish judge has opened an investigation into the disappearance of approximately 114,000 opponents of Gen. Francisco Franco during his administration. Judge Baltasar Garzon has ordered 19 mass graves to be excavated. “These days, crimes against humanity are a burning issue, wherever you look in the world, be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Darfur – enough countries to make you realize that this theme never ceases to make the news, just as the fight against this scar, this impunity, never ceases,” Garzon told the BBC.

“And if we are referring to the investigations being carried out in Spain in relation to universal justice or eras gone by, then justice needs to follow its course within the parameters of the law,” said Garzon. “That is what we judges try to do.”

The investigation is focusing on the fate of those who opposed Franco and his regime. Over a 15-year period, many dissenters went missing and are presumed to have been killed. “It’s important for people to know the atrocities of war so that we don’t look at what the military does with rose-colored glasses,” said senior Maria Kupper who studied in Madrid last fall. “It’s going to show the world how scary it is when you have any kind of fascist or militarized power take control.”

The disappearances began with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Franco initiated a military coup which turned into a three-year struggle. However, even after the war ended, his regime allegedly continued to execute its opponents. Franco’s reign lasted until his death in 1975.The disappeared are believed to be buried in the mass graves. Although they have been excavated before, this is the first official investigation into the deaths of the people inside.

“It was virtually genocide,” historian Ian Gibson told the BBC, “It came from the top, it was systematic, and they had planned it before the war began. Documents exist showing that, if the coup failed, they would set in motion this policy of extermination.”

However, Garzon’s investigation has provoked controversy on all sides.

Conservatives argue that it breaks a law passed in 1977 that pardons misdeeds committed by all sides during and after the war.

Some of the families of victims also oppose the investigation. The relatives of Federico Garcia Lorca, a poet and one of the most famous disappeared, want to preserve the grave site as a testament to those buried there.

“We should not disturb the dead … and his fame should serve to protect that place,” the poet’s niece, Laura Lorca, said to the BBC.

Supporters argue that the benefits outweigh the problems. “The point is to recover their memory, so that people know that they fought for their cause,” said Alfonso Abad Mancheño, assistant professor of Spanish. “That means that you open some wounds and it is always uncomfortable to open wounds. But I think that sometimes we learn from the past.”

“It’s important from a historical perspective to know what happened, because secrets in history tend to perpetuate future problems,” said Kupper. “Opening this investigation will also mean that Spain could establish their values in a new way, and by values I mean accepting multiple political opinions and having the freedom to do so.