Soria, September 14 (European Press) –
The Soriana Memorial and Dignity Association has erected two mass graves in the “El Cagado” area near the town of Villazayas Sorrias.
“Following the failure of the first attempt in March 2022, exploration efforts to find those abducted, murdered and secretly buried have yielded results with the demarcation of two mass graves,” the association said.
Both were discovered after a week of intense work and more than three years of investigation and questioning by neighbors.
The two tombs are very close to each other, with two corpses and one corpse buried respectively. Based on all the evidence found, and pending confirmation by DNA testing, the two mass graves will house the three people being sought by Memorial and Dignity at the family’s request.
Victim information management system
The first victim was Esteban Ciria Ballesteros, a mason from Almazan. His brothers last saw him on September 19, 1936, when they forced him into a car at the town’s Puerta de Herreros. Esteban Ciria was murdered alone.
Two other victims were shot together. Their name was Rufino Felipe Gómez Escribano, a teacher from Barahona who was murdered on August 22, 1936 ; Félix Iglesia Casado, a tall farmer from Barahona, was raised from his bed and shot to death due to pneumonia.
Félix Iglesia was shot dead along with Rufino and Gregorio Ranz Iglesia, who was killed by his family on the night of his murder Exhumed and reburied in the civil cemetery at Barahona.
exploration
After six days of intense work, the figures are again dazzling; 750 cubic meters of earth were excavated and removed along 180 linear meters; the total excavation area was 1,600 square meters (375 square meters of farmland and 1,525 square meters of ravines).
More than two dozen volunteers devoted all their available time to collaborate on the search. Several residents of Villasayas, Almazán, Barahona and Fuentegelmes have come to the area to help, providing verbal testimony, support and cooperation in the mission.
Relatives of the victims witnessed the entire incident and participated in the search.
Throughout the intervention, direct contact was maintained with the scientific and judicial police. Therefore, after the grave was discovered, the National Guard was notified to begin judicializing the murder, handing over the bones released during the excavation to the relevant legal proceedings and sending them to the courts.
The task of delineating the grave was carried out by ARECO Archeology, a company from Soria with extensive experience in the province and a regular collaborator of the organization “Memorial and Dignity”.
This intervention is funded by the Government of Castilla and León. This intervention by Villasayas is the sixth by the judicial organization Remembrance and Dignity.