Spanish courts escalate campaign to legitimise fascist Francoite dictatorship Political developments in Spain are moving in an increasingly dangerous direction. Eighty-five years after the 1936 fascist coup led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco started the three-year Spanish Civil War, in which the victory of Francoite forces backed by Hitler and Mussolini set up a dictatorship that lasted until 1978, Spanish courts are aggressively rehabilitating Francoism. They have issued a spate of reactionary rulings, such as absolving a fascist leader’s anti-Semitic statements and opposing the changing of street names honoring fascist military units and leaders. It comes after the Supreme Court endorsed Franco’s 1936 coup, and the Constitutional Court ruled that Franco did not commit crimes against humanity during the war or his 40-year dictatorship.