Following the example of other countries in Europe, the Catalan regional parliament in Spain has adopted a resolution to acquit up to 1 000 persons, mostly women, accused of the historic crime of witchcraft several hundred year ago, British news portal The Guardian reports.
The resolution in Catalonia came after similar gestures in Norway, Scotland, and Switzerland and Norway following a joint manifesto entitled «They weren’t witches, they were women» by more than 100 European historians.
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The Catalan regional parliamentary decision was supported by the left-wing and national-conservative parties in the legislature. The Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, described the witch-hunts as «institutionalised femicide».
It is estimated that between 1580 and 1630 about 50,000 people were condemned to death for witchcraft across Europe, of whom about 80% were women. In Catalonia, and witch-hunts persisted well into the 18th century. What is thought to be the first European law against witchcraft was passed in the Catalan city of Lleida in 1424, The Guardian reports.
Spanish region to acquit hundreds of people blamed for witchcraft
