Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation
The Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation issued on 19 February 2026 formally acknowledges the forced adoption and unlawful removal suffered by Olmo Gómez Aldaz. It is the result of a long process that began with the suppression of his biological identity, continued through judicial proceedings, and culminated in a formal request for recognition as a victim under Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory.
In 1971, Olmo Gómez Aldaz was subjected to forced adoption following his removal without the legitimate and free consent of his biological parents. The alteration of filiation was incorporated into the civil registry as if it were a lawful and definitive situation, giving it an appearance of legality and preventing institutional scrutiny for decades. His biological identity was annulled and erased.
This situation began to reverse through personal investigation, genetic evidence, and judicial proceedings that culminated in the double filiation rulings delivered in 2024 and 2025. Those rulings formally declared his biological identity and recognized the coexistence of double filiation with full civil effects.
However, those rulings addressed filiation, not the nature of the acts that made such litigation necessary. They restored identity but did not legally characterize the forced adoption and removal without consent as unlawful acts committed within a broader context of repression, nor did they recognize his status as a victim.
Because civil recognition proved insufficient, a formal request for recognition was submitted under Law 20/2022. The book DOGA 2025: The Battle for My Identity documents and articulates that request. It sets out the historical and legal reasoning showing that the events of 1971 were not an isolated episode, but part of a wider pattern of rights violations during the Franco dictatorship.
On 19 February 2026, the Government of Spain responded by issuing the Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation, signed by Minister Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez and officially registered. This constitutes formal institutional recognition of the forced adoption and recognition of Olmo Gómez Aldaz as a victim.
In the Declaration, it is expressly stated:
Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation
“it has been established that […] he suffered persecution for political and ideological reasons during the Franco dictatorship.”
“in 1971 he was forcibly removed and adopted without the legitimate and free consent of his parents.”
“his circumstances qualify him as a ‘victim’ under Article 3.1 of Law 20/2022.”Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez
Minister for Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory
19 February 2026
File: 523-950967
Registered in the Registry of the Directorate-General for
Victim Support and Promotion of Democratic Memory
DRRP. Book 1 – Number 4918
With this Declaration, the State formally affirms that a forced adoption occurred in 1971 following removal without lawful consent, and that these acts were unlawful within the context of the dictatorship. This is not merely a historical reference, but an institutional qualification of the facts.
The Declaration does not replace the double filiation rulings that restored Olmo Gómez Aldaz’s biological identity, but it completes their meaning. Until then, the State had recognized who he was in civil law; it had not formally acknowledged the unlawful nature of the acts nor his status as a victim. Biological identity had been restored. This Declaration officially recognizes the nature of the wrongdoing that made that restoration necessary.
In general terms, the double filiation rulings represent an innovative judicial development for their recognition of biological identity with full civil effects. On a personal level, however, recognition as a victim carries a deeper significance. The civil restitution left the adoption intact and did not declare the existence of criminal wrongdoing in the terms requested. The Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation, by contrast, expressly affirms the forced adoption, its unlawful character, and recognition as a victim, thereby completing what the strictly civil route did not achieve.
Official Declaration Document (PDF)
Declaration of Recognition and Personal Reparation issued on 19 February 2026 and registered in the corresponding official registry.
This file was processed under the previous registered identity (Santiago González Rueda). Administrative updating to the current name (Olmo Gómez Aldaz) is in progress.