Historians rubbish Spanish supreme court's position on Franco's reign

Critics say ruling suspending exhumation of dictator's remains legitimises 1936 coup

Leading historians have rubbished the Spanish supreme court's claim that General Franco was head of state from October 1936, almost three years before his rebellion secured victory in the Spanish civil war.

The claim was made in the court's latest ruling on the socialist government's tortuous efforts to exhume the dictator's remains from his hulking mausoleum and have him reburied in the family vault.