Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Judge Baltasar Garzón suspended over Franco investigation
#1
Judge Baltasar Garzón suspended over Franco investigation

Move against Spanish magistrate, who pursued Pinochet over human rights abuses, seen as politically motivated

[Image: Baltasar-Garz-n-who-indic-001.jpg] Baltasar Garzón, who also indicted Osama bin Laden, is accused of overstepping his authority by investigating Franco era atrocities. Photograph: Arturo Rodriguez/AP

The stellar career of the crusading Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón may have come to an abrupt end today after he was suspended from his post as an investigating magistrate at Madrid's national court.
The higher council of judicial power, which oversees Spain's judges, temporarily suspended Garzón while the supreme court tries him on charges of distorting the law by opening an investigation into crimes against humanity carried out by the Franco regime.
"It will come into effect as soon as he is told," the council's spokeswoman, Gabriela Bravo, said this morning.
Judges and co-workers later lined up outside the national court to say goodbye to the man whose investigations into Latin American dictators, including Augusto Pinochet of Chile, had turned the court into a key player in global human rights.
Some shed tears as Garzón hugged and kissed them before being driven off from the courthouse in his armour-plated car for what may be the last time.
The decision to suspend him, although expected, nevertheless shocked leftwing Spaniards, who see it as the latest stage in a political and professional vendetta against the controversial magistrate. "This stinks of shameful revenge," the writer and journalist Juan Cruz wrote on his blog.
Garzón's supporters claim there is nothing coincidental about the fact that the trial comes at the same time as two other, separate cases in which he is also accused of knowingly twisting the law.
The private prosecutions against him have been brought by rightwing groups and one case refers directly to a corruption investigation into the main opposition party, the rightwing People's party.
Campaigners who have been seeking justice for those killed by Franco death squads before and after the Spanish civil war claimed that Garzón had become "the last victim of Francoism".
Today's decision was rushed through, apparently in an attempt by enemies within Spain's highly politicised judicial system to stop him taking up an offer to be adviser to the international criminal court in The Hague.
A demonstration was called for tonight in Madrid.
The decision was criticised by international human rights groups. "Judge Garzón's suspension will be mourned by human rights activists around the world," said Reed Brody, legal counsel for Human Rights Watch. "Garzón helped to deliver justice for atrocity victims abroad and now he's being punished for trying to do the same thing at home."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may...estigation
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Reply
#2
Sad, very sad. A towering Jurist of the World - silenced...for now.Sad
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Reply
#3
I wonder if there will be street protests? It seems that there was a secret agreement not to prosecute any of the Franquistas in the transition to Juan Carlos as head of state.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Obama drops investigation into CIA spying on US Senate Peter Lemkin 1 2,871 14-07-2014, 07:22 AM
Last Post: Magda Hassan
  Chilean judge requests extradition of u.s. Military official in "missing" case Magda Hassan 6 4,509 03-07-2014, 01:50 PM
Last Post: Drew Phipps
  Turkey corruption investigation focuses on Erdogan David Guyatt 4 3,953 24-12-2013, 09:04 AM
Last Post: David Guyatt
  Here come da Judge David Guyatt 3 3,869 17-05-2013, 02:30 AM
Last Post: Jim Hackett II
  Garzon Removed From Court for Eleven Years Peter Lemkin 1 2,600 10-02-2012, 08:03 PM
Last Post: Peter Lemkin
  A Buried FBI Investigation: Newt Gingrich, Marianne and the Arms Dealer Magda Hassan 1 3,742 14-12-2011, 07:51 AM
Last Post: Peter Lemkin
  South Africa reopens 1999 arms deal investigation - This could be fun.... Magda Hassan 1 3,161 20-09-2011, 08:51 AM
Last Post: Magda Hassan
  Attorney General Eric Holder wasted a two-year investigation on CIA misdeeds ... Bernice Moore 0 2,479 04-07-2011, 07:58 PM
Last Post: Bernice Moore
  German Govenment Sought to Bribe Judge During Eichmann Trial Magda Hassan 0 2,486 17-04-2011, 03:15 PM
Last Post: Magda Hassan
  The LONG, LONG Road Away From Franco! Peter Lemkin 0 4,365 25-02-2010, 07:09 PM
Last Post: Peter Lemkin

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)