Marcelino Valentín Gamazo

Marcelino Valentín Gamazo (1879–1936) was a Spanish lawyer, Secretary of the Bar Association of Madrid on three occasions, Dean of the lawyers of the State and Attorney General of the Spanish Republic (Nov - Dec, 1935). He was born in Rubielos Altos on August 14, 1879 and died in El Cerrajón on August 6, 1936. He tried unsuccessfully to condemn the socialist leader, Francisco Largo Caballero, as head of the 1934 Revolution. He was murdered at the beginning of the Civil War.

Career

Gamazo was appointed by Niceto Alcalá Zamora as Attorney General of the Republic on Saturday November 16, 1935, proposed by the Ministry of Justice.^[1] He took office on Tuesday 19 November.^[2]

His most notable work was the charge undertaken by the Supreme Court against the socialist leader Francisco Largo Caballero, charging with heading the 1934 Revolution, accusing him of military rebellion, a crime punishable with thirty years' imprisonment.^[3][4] Largo Caballero having been acquitted,^[5] Gamazo resigned on Wednesday 18 December of that year,^[6] which was accepted on the 24th.

He was arrested and beaten by a Popular Front militia group on 5 August 1936 and killed that night with three of his sons, also lawyers: Jose Antonio, Javier and Luis, 21, 20 and 17 years respectively.^[7]

A devout Christian, he was a member of the Catholic Action and of the Knights of the Pilar, and participated in the reorganization of the Congregation of St. Ivo, the patron saint of lawyers.

Marriage and children

Gamazo married Narcisa Fernández y Navarro de los Paños, with whom he had nine children: María de las Mercedes, José Antonio, Francisco Javier, Luis Gonzaga, Emilia, Fernando María, Alfonso, Maria Teresa and Maria Julia.

References

1. La Vanguardia, 16 November 1935, p. 23
2. La Vanguardia, 19 November 1935, p. 28
3. La Vanguardia, 26 November 1935, p. 28
4. La Vanguardia, 28 de noviembre de 1935, p. 25
5. La Vanguardia, 1 December 1935, p. 26
6. La Vanguardia, 18 December 1935, p. 22
7. Esquela del 50 aniversario de su muerte (English: Obituary of the 50th anniversary of his death) Diario ABC, 24 November 1986, p. 86