On the night of January 24, 1977, a commando unit of Spanish and Italian neo-Fascists shot dead three Communist labour-rights attorneys, a law student and a manager at their law office in downtown Madrid; four others were seriously injured. On February 16 Ibárruri asked Spanish authorities in Moscow to allow her to return to Spain. She stated that she had travelled outside the USSR many times, that her profession was a publicist and contributor to newspapers and magazines, that she was the president of the PCE and that she wanted to travel freely to her own country. On February 22 the still-illegal PCE made public its list of candidates for the general elections of June 15. Ibárruri appeared as a candidate in two electoral districts to be assured of election, one Madrid and the other Asturias; Carrillo appeared in three. Despite a climate of fear and insecurity the Spanish government legalized the PCE on April 9, but the authorities denied Ibárruri a visa. On April 27 Julian Ruiz said that he would not be at the airport to greet his estranged wife, "Nevertheless she is the mother of my children and I wish her health and a peaceful life.", The PCE arranged to have Ibárruri land in Madrid with or without a visa on May 13. However, on May 12 the authorities relented and provided it.