Homosexual Receives Apology For Imprsonment

Antoni Ruiz, has become the first homosexual in Spain to receive official recognition from the Spanish Government for his suffering and incarceration more than three decades after he was imprisoned for his sexual orientation.

It is estimated that around 5,000 similar men were incarcerated during the Franco Era when homosexuality was made illegal - but Mr Ruiz was one of the few that were sentenced for the crime after the death of the dictator in November 1975.

It was 1976, when Antoni was 17, that he told his family that he was gay. At this time homosexuality was still illegal and when his parents confided in a Catholic monk, he reported their son to the Spanish authorities. He was duly sentenced to three months in prison and was also banished from his home town in Valencia for a further year.

Mr Ruiz, 50, now heads an association for former prisoners, received the letter from Spain's justice minister last week, which also contained offer of financial compensation for 4,000 euros , Said he was happy with the "symbolic gesture" and that it had been "a long time coming".

The letter of apology was one of many given under Spain's Law of Historical Memory, introduced in 2007 in order to honour the forgotten victims of the Spanish Civil war and resulting 36-year fascist dictatorship.

The law against homosexuality ended 1979 following Spain's transition to democracy and the nation has since become one of the most liberal in Europe. Under the Socialist government Prime Minister Zapatero has legalised same-sex marriages and given homosexual couples the right to adapt to children.