Garrotting

 

   The garrotte (or garrote) was the standard civilian method of execution in Spain.

 It was introduced in 1812/13, at the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand VII, to replace the crude form of hanging previously used. 

At least 736 people, including 16 women, were executed in Spain in the 19th century.  It is not clear how complete earlier records are and even modern ones are somewhat patchy.

Some 96 people, including two women, were garrotted between 1900 and 1935 with a further 110 men and three women being put to death in the post Civil War period. 

Garrotting was last used on the 2nd of March 1974, when two men were executed on the same day. 

Salvador Puig Antich was put to death in Barcelona, by A. López Guerra, for the shooting of a police officer during a robbery the previous year and Heinz Chez suffered in Tarragona, at the hands of J. Monero Renomo, for the terrorist murder of a Civil Guard Lieutenant.  

The garotte used for Antich’s execution is now on display in the Fundación Camilo José Cela, in

Chair with a metal collar that was tightened by a screw, crushing the neck or spine of the condemned.

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