Salvador Puig Antich | |
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![]() Undated photo of Salvador Puig Antich | |
Born | Barcelona, Spain | 30 May 1948
Died | 2 March 1974 Barcelona, Spain | (aged 25)
Cause of death | Execution by garrote |
Conviction(s) | Murder |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Salvador Puig Antich (Catalan pronunciation: [səlβəˈðo ˌpudʒ‿ənˈtik]; 30 May 1948 – 2 March 1974) was a Spanish militant anarchist from Catalonia. His execution for involvement in a bank robbery and shooting a police officer dead became a cause célèbre in Francoist Spain for Catalan autonomists, pro-independence supporters, and anarchists. After fighting the Spanish state with the militant organization Iberian Liberation Movement in the early 1970s, he was convicted and executed by garrote for the death of a police officer during a shoot-out.
Catalans viewed Puig Antich's judicial death as symbolic retribution for the region's fight for self-government, and his name became commonplace in Barcelona. The incident inspired works by Catalan artists Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies, and a satirical play by the Catalan theater group Els Joglars . The 2006 film Salvador depicts Puig Antich's time on death row. After the Spanish Supreme Court declined an effort to review the execution, an Argentine court adopted the case under universal jurisdiction in 2013.