Granada, Spain - Bones believed to be those of Spain's most beloved modern poet, Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936), will remain in a mass grave near Granada for the time being, a court in the southern city announced Friday.

The court declined to authorize the opening of the mass grave, which had been ordered by Madrid investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon, arguing that it was not responsible for the case.

Lorca was shot dead by the right-wing supporters of dictator-to-be Francisco Franco at the start of Spain's 1936-39 civil war. Francoists disliked the poet, whose main works include Gypsy Ballads, for being a leftist and a homosexual.

Lorca's admirers are shocked that bones which are believed to be his have been left in an unmarked mass grave. The Lorca family, however, has been unenthusiastic about exhuming them, arguing that would set him apart from the other civil war victims buried in the grave. (dpa)