The remains of Bartomeu Fornés, murdered by the Franco regime, were handed over to his family on Wednesday.

PalmThe municipal cemetery of Pollença hosted a very moving ceremony this Wednesday in which the remains of Bartomeu Fornés Bordoy, murdered by the Franco regime in the Son Coletes cemetery in Manacor on August 27, 1936, were returned to his family 40 years later. The mortal remains of this victim of the Francoist coup were exhumed from the mass grave in the Manacor cemetery during the third excavation campaign in 2023, and were successfully identified from a bone sample compared with an DNA sample from the handover of his father's remains. The identification of Bartomeu Fornés was confirmed last May, along with that of other Republican victims such as the brother of Aurora Picornell, whose remains were also found in the Son Coletes cemetery.

The ceremony took place at the Pollença cemetery and was attended by members of Bartomeu Fornés' family, especially his son, accompanied by his wife, four daughters, and grandchildren. Deeply moved, Bartomeu Fornés' family was able to give him a dignified burial next to his wife. Municipal authorities and representatives of the Balearic Government were also present, as well as a large number of local residents.

Bartomeu Fornés was born in Manacor in 1896 and, in 1936, during the Bayo landing, he and his family took refuge in a rural house. There he was wounded and taken to the hospital. Days later, on August 27, he was arrested and murdered in Son Coletes, at the age of 40. Days earlier, on August 19, his father had been killed. Bartomeu Fornés lived in Manacor with his wife and only son. After becoming a widow, his wife moved to Pollença, her hometown.