Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a former
Spanish judge. Garzón formerly served on Spain's central criminal court, the ''
Audiencia Nacional
The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...
'', and was the
examining magistrate
In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases m ...
of the ''Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5'', which investigates the most important criminal cases in Spain, including terrorism,
organised crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
, and
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...
. In 2011, he was suspended from judicial activity and in 2012 he was convicted of illegal wiretapping and disbarred for a period of 11 years.
During this time, Garzón legally assisted
Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army int ...
.
On 24 March 2020, it was announced that Garzón was diagnosed with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
and hospitalized during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.
Early life
Born in
Torres,
Jaén, Garzón graduated from the
University of Seville in 1979. He was appointed to the ''
Audiencia Nacional
The Audiencia Nacional (; en, National Court) is a centralised court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in a certain scope of delinquency, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those ...
'' in 1988, and rapidly made his name in Spain by pursuing the
Basque separatist group
ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
.
Political career
In 1993, Garzón asked for an extended leave of absence as a judge and went into
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
, running for the
Congress of Deputies
The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...
(the lower house of parliament) as an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
candidate on the party list of the then ruling party
Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). Prime Minister
Felipe González
Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since th ...
appointed him head of a strengthened National Plan Against Drugs, but Garzón resigned shortly after being appointed, complaining of lack of support from the government, and returned to the ''Audiencia Nacional''.
Spanish cases
GAL
His 1994 investigation led to the conviction of
José Barrionuevo Peña, a former Interior minister, as head of the
Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación
GAL (an acronym for ''Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación'', "Antiterrorist Liberation Groups") were death squads illegally established by officials of the Spanish government to fight against ETA, the principal Basque separatist militant g ...
(GAL), a
state terrorist group.
Drug-trafficking
Garzón made his name as a magistrate through several police operations centred on drug-trafficking in
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
. Colombian cartels, such as the
Medellín Cartel, were using the
Galician mafia
Galician clans are the drug smuggling groups in the Spanish region of Galicia. Due to the activities of these clans, Galicia is often cited as being the main European entry point for Colombian cocaine.
Activities
Traditionally the region of G ...
, already accustomed to smuggling tobacco, to smuggle drugs into Spain. In 1990, ''
Operación Nécora Operation Necora ( es, Operación Nécora, lit. Velvet Crab) was a major Spanish police operation against drug traffickers in Galicia, Spain. It led to the arrest of 54 people.
Background
In the 1970s fishermen from declining fishing towns along t ...
'' led to the conviction of members of the clan led by Laureano Oubiña. The following year Garzón headed another investigation, ''Operación Pitón'', which led to the conviction of members of the Charlines clan.
''Caso Atlético''
In 1999, he investigated
Jesús Gil, the former mayor of
Marbella and owner of
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based i ...
, who was convicted in 2002 on grounds of corruption.
Closure of media outlets
Garzón has also presided in many trials against alleged ETA members. Falling back on the judicial presumption named "everything is ETA", he presided a case against Orain S.A., the Basque communication company that published the newspaper ''
Egin'' and owned the radio station ''Egin Irratia''. Garzón ordered the closure of both and sent some of the company officers to prison, due to their alleged links with ETA. These charges were later dropped for lack of evidence, and the journalists were released. Many years later Garzón imprisoned them again under the allegation of being part of ETA in a "broader" sense. While ''Egin'' was allowed to reopen years later by the Audiencia Nacional, the state of ruin shown by the facilities made operation impossible.
Ban of Basque parties Batasuna, EAE-ANV and EHAK
As a
National Court judge, Garzón declared on 11 December 2001 that there is no ETA entourage but "everything is ETA". On 3 September 2002, he accused the Basque party
Batasuna
Batasuna (; en, Unity) was a Basque nationalist political party. Based mainly in Spain, it was banned in 2003, after a court ruling declared proven that the party was financing ETA with public money.
The party is included in the "European Union ...
of helping and funding ETA, participating in the armed organization, and as such, involved in "crimes against humanity", also criticising any nuanced approach on Batasuna and ETA. Police shut down offices and property of the party on Garzon's orders, and suspended for three years the operations of the party. 22 members of its directive committee were arrested by 2007.
Ahead of the
Spanish general election on 9 March 2008, Garzón suspended in February the Basque parties
EAE-ANV and
EHAK (PCTV), also ordering the closure of their headquarters, premises, establishments and any other venues, as well as blocking the parties' banking accounts. In April 2008, the judge concluded the summary that involved Batasuna to ETA, putting on trial 41 members of the party, including
Arnaldo Otegi.
The 61 Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Spain
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regula ...
outlawed in September the parties EAE-ANV and EHAK. In March 2009, Garzón processed 44 members constituting the directive committees of the three parties in an indictment numbering 583 pages. The judge stated that "
EAE-ANV and
EHAK (PCTV) were manipulated by the members of the national committee of Batasuna to continue the criminal pursuit designed by ETA".
Approach on torture
Garzón rose to prominence in the Spanish special tribunal National Court dealing with anti-terrorism in early 1990s.
Basque terrorism suspects held incommunicado for days stood before court sometimes with clear signs of violence on their body. As a judge, he used to ignore right away apparent injuries detainees' bodies, as well as their statements describing their period in police hands, labelling injuries "self-inflicted", or irrelevant, and failing to investigate the cases. Approximately 100 Basques and Catalans may have been tortured under the jurisdiction of Baltasar Garzón as a judge.
Francoist atrocities
On 17 October 2008, Garzón formally declared the acts of repression committed by the
Franco regime
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spa ...
to be
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
, and accounted them in more than one hundred thousand killings during and after the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. He also ordered the exhumation of 19 unmarked mass graves, one of them believed to contain the remains of the poet
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...
.
On 17 November 2008, Garzón said that he was dropping the investigation against Franco and his allies after state prosecutors had questioned his jurisdiction over crimes committed 70 years ago by people who are now dead and whose crimes were covered by an
amnesty passed in 1977. In a 152-page statement, he passed responsibility to regional courts for opening 19 mass graves believed to hold the remains of hundreds of victims.
''Caso Gürtel''
Garzón started a major corruption inquiry, code-named "Gürtel" from the name of its ringleader, Franscisco Correa, ("Gürtel" being German for "belt", which is the meaning of "correa" in Spanish). The case was related to bribes given to
People's Party. He was disposed of the case in 2010.
Allegation of improper eavesdropping
The accused in the case sought to have evidence against them ignored. The accused asked that the evidence be ruled inadmissible, since it was obtained from
conversations between prisoners and counsel, which, under Spanish law, it is claimed, is allowed only in terrorism-related cases.
Garzón's authorisation of the recordings resulted in his
disbarment
Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal co ...
as a judge and lawyer.
International cases
Augusto Pinochet
On 10 October 1998, Garzón issued an international warrant for the arrest of former
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
an dictator
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
for the alleged deaths and torture of Spanish citizens. The
Chilean Truth Commission (1990–91) report was the basis for the warrant, marking an unprecedented use of
universal jurisdiction to attempt to try a former dictator for a crime committed abroad. Eventually it was turned down by British
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
Jack Straw, who rejected Garzón's request to have Pinochet
extradited
Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
to Spain on health grounds.
Kissinger and Operation Condor
Garzón asked for permission for cross-examination of former U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
in connection with a plot in the 1970s known as
Operation Condor. Permission was refused.
Dirty War
Garzón also filed charges of genocide against Argentine military officers on
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
's disappearance of Spanish citizens during
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
's 1976–1983 dictatorship. Eventually,
Adolfo Scilingo and
Miguel Angel Cavallo were prosecuted in separate cases. Scilingo was convicted and sentenced to over 1,000 years incarceration for his crimes.
Guantanamo
Garzón issued indictments for five
Guantanamo detainees, including Spaniard
Abderrahman Ahmad and Jordanian
Jamil El Banna. Ahmad was extradited to Spain on 14 February 2004. El Banna was released to the United Kingdom, and in 2007, Garzón dropped the charges against him on humanitarian grounds.
Bush Six
In March 2009, Garzón considered whether Spain should allow charges to be filed against former officials from the
United States government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
under
George W. Bush for offering justifications for torture.
[
] The six former Bush officials are:
Alberto Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States Attorney General, appointed in February 2005 by President George W. Bush, becoming the highest-ranking Hispanic American in executive governme ...
, former
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
John Yoo
John Choon Yoo (; born July 10, 1967) is a Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions ...
, of the
Office of Legal Counsel
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...
;
Douglas Feith
Douglas Jay Feith (born July 16, 1953) served as the under secretary of Defense for Policy for United States president George W. Bush, from July 2001 until August 2005. He is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.
F ...
, former undersecretary of defense for policy;
William Haynes II
William James "Jim" Haynes II (born March 30, 1958) is an American lawyer and was General Counsel of the Department of Defense during much of 43rd President George W. Bush's administration and his war on terror. Haynes resigned as general counsel ...
, former general counsel for the Department of Defense;
Jay Bybee, also at Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel; and
David Addington
David Spears Addington (born January 22, 1957) is an American lawyer who was legal counsel (2001–2005) and chief of staff (2005–2009) to Vice President Dick Cheney. He was the vice president of domestic and economic policy studies at the Heri ...
,
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former ...
's Chief of Staff. However, the investigation was assigned to Judge
Eloy Velasco
Eloy Velasco (born 2 January 1963 in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish High Court Judge, known for being responsible to determine whether or not six former Bush officials (see Bush Six) should face criminal charges in Spain. He is also known for ...
who chose not to pursue it stating that Spain could not investigate the case if the U.S. did not intend to conduct its own investigation into the matter.
[
]
On 29 April 2009, Garzón opened an investigation into an alleged "systematic programme" of torture at
Guantánamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay ( es, Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut o ...
, following accusations by four former prisoners. Similarly, the leaked cable indicates that the Chief Prosecutor intended to also fight this investigation and that he feared, "Garzón may attempt to wring all the publicity he can from the case unless and until he is forced to give it up."
In September 2009, the Spanish newspaper ''
Público'' reported that, despite opposition, Garzón was proceeding to the next phase of his investigation.
Alex Saab
On 22 July 2020, Garzón said that he would represent
Alex Saab
Alex Nain Saab Morán ( ar, أليكس صعب; born 21 December 1971) is a Colombian businessman. Saab was the subject of journalistic investigations for conducting businesses estimated at US$135 million with the Venezuelan government, while othe ...
in a U.S. extradition case.
Appearance before the Spanish Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Spain has declared admissible three
criminal accusations against Garzón for 'prevarication' which implies using his authority as a judge to intentionally subvert the course of justice. This is a very serious criminal offense punishable by suspension from any (Spanish) judicial activity for up to twenty years.
Crimes against humanity by Franco's government
In October 2008, Garzón opened a controversial inquiry into alleged
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
committed by the Nationalist government during the Spanish Civil War and the years that followed the war. This action was controversial because the offenses were nearly 70 years old, occurring before the concept of
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
, and a 1977 general amnesty act barred any investigations related to criminal offenses with a political aim previous to 1976. In 2008, the inquiry was suspended. In September 2009, a trade union called "
Manos limpias" (Clean Hands) filed a lawsuit against Garzón alleging that Garzón had abused his judicial authority by opening the inquiry. Manos Limpias is a "far-right group," according to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Garzón denied any wrongdoing.
In April 2010, Garzón was indicted by the Spanish Supreme Court for prevarication for arbitrarily changing his juridical criteria to engineer the case in order to bypass the law limiting his jurisdiction. If convicted, he could have been barred from his duties for 20 years. Garzón's indictment has been highly divisive within Spain and controversial abroad.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
and
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...
condemned the indictment, and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' published an editorial supporting him, whereas ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' condemned Garzón's proceedings in an editorial supporting the
rule of law
The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannic ...
. There were public protests in Spain from left wing organizations supporting Garzón.
The
International Commission of Jurists
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...
considers that his short-lived inquiry did not justify disciplinary action, let alone criminal prosecution, adding that the prosecution of judges for carrying out their professional work was "an inappropriate and unwarranted interference with the independence of the judicial process".
[
On 24 April 2010, Garzón presented an appeal to the Supreme Court against the judge investigating the case, Luciano Varela for giving advice to the plaintiffs about the errors in their documents. Garzón accused the judge of partiality, in having "a direct interest in the proceedings and bias in the action" and having "worked closely with the plaintiffs by offering counsel or legal advice" intended help the complainants to correct a defect in their series of indictments to meet a deadline, an action which he defined as "atypical, extrajudicial and prejudicial to one of the parties" (i.e. him, as the accused). According to Garzón, "intervention by the instructing judge is not protected under any provision of the current legal procedural rules and is clearly unrelated to the substantive rules of Spanish court procedure". Luciano Varela accepted the appeal and temporarily stepped out from the case until the Supreme Court rules on the appeal.
On 11 May 2010, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the ]International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to pro ...
(ICC) requested that the Judiciary of Spain
The Judiciary of Spain consists of Courts and Tribunals, composed of judges and magistrates (Justices), who have the power to administer justice in the name of the King of Spain.
Law
The Spanish legal system is a civil law system based on co ...
might assign Garzón as a consultant to the ICC for six months, which would have allowed General Council of the Judicial Power of Spain
The General Council of the Judiciary ( es, Consejo General del Poder Judicial, CGPJ) is the national council of the judiciary of Spain. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it is ...
(La Comisión Permanente Extraordinaria del Consejo General del Poder Juidicial or CGPJ) to avoid suspending Garzón during the impending trial for investigating crimes committed during the Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...
era.
In response, Judge Varela brought forward his conclusion that Garzón should stand trial, and the CGPJ rejected the request of the ICC on the basis that it appeared to be simply a personal request by Moreno-Ocampo, rather than an official ICC invitation. On Friday, 14 May 2010, Garzón was duly suspended from judicial activity (with pay) 'as a precaution, pending judgment' as a result of the decision of Judge Varela, which causes suspension to be formally required by Spanish law. The CGPC subsequently declared that it would require five different certificates ('informes' in Spanish) to release Garzón to the ICC as a consultant for six months during his period of suspension from judicial activity. These were:
* That the public prosecutor (which opposes the trial of Garzón) certify that there would be no conflict of interest
* That the Supreme Court of Spain
The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regula ...
(hearing the case against Garzón) would not be delayed or inconvenienced
* That the ICC certify the appointment would not provide immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity de ...
for Garzón from either outstanding or future criminal process in Spain
* That Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation declare the appointment of Garzón to be in the national interest
The national interest is a sovereign state's goals and ambitions (economic, military, cultural, or otherwise), taken to be the aim of government.
Etymology
The Italian phrase ''ragione degli stati'' was first used by Giovanni della Casa around ...
of Spain
* That the Secretary General of the CGPJ was satisfied that all of the above certificates were appropriate and legally valid for this temporary assignment.
José Manuel Gómez Begresista, the president of the CGPJ's Commission for Studies and Reports, impugned each of the above five conditions, which he characterized as 'ridiculous' since Garzón had previously been assigned to such work, and no immunity from Spanish law attaches thereto. He went on to state that the decision taken by the CGPJ "lacked any legal grounds whatsoever".
Later that day, the CGPJ authorised the assignment of Garzón to the ICC.
ECHR: ''Kononov v. Latvia''
Coincidentally, on the same day, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
delivered final judgment in the case ''Vassili Kononov
Vassili Makarovich Kononov or Vasiliy Makarovich Kononov (russian: Василий Макарович Кононов, lv, Vasilijs Kononovs; 1 January 192331 March 2011) was a Soviet partisan during World War II, who was convicted by Latvian supr ...
v. Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
'' No. 36376/04, on 17 May 2010.
The Russian Federation had maintained that any prosecution of the applicant was statute-barred, as supported by the dissenting opinion of Judge Costa joined by judges Kalaydjieva and Poalelungi, : under " Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...
no derogation is permissible and in conclusion, the dissident judges considered that, in respect of Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights sets limits on criminalisation, forbidding ''ex post facto'' criminalisation by signatory countries.
Text
Case law
* Kokkinakis v. Greece (no violation found, 8:1)
*Vassili Kononov (no violati ...
However, in the prevailing and joint concurring opinion of judges Rozakis, Tulkens, Spielmann and Jebens:
Since the Spanish State
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
of Franco had laws against kidnapping and killing, it might be difficult to argue that these acts were legal, even if they were directed by (Francoist) state officials, particularly as Garzón convicted the PSOE government officials promoting the GAL assassination squads.
Impartiality questions
On 17 December 2010, Garzón challenged five of the seven Supreme Court justices that could be appointed to judge him for his activities in respect of the exhumation of Franco victims.
He alleges that Juan Saavedra, Adolfo Prego Oliver, Joaquin Giménez, Francisco and Juan Ramon Berdugo Monterde should be disqualified from officiating in any way because they have participated in pre-trial activities and thus may have an interest in the outcome that might affect their impartiality. These five judges have intervened in the investigation of the case, and the defence claims that consequently – and according to a strict interpretation of the principle of '' nemo iudex in causa sua'' – such intervention demonstrates these five judges an indirect interest in the outcome of the process.
The background to this case is that conservative opinion generally asserts that "the dictatorship" is past, and exhuming its less savoury activities is injurious to modern Spanish political interests (as may be Garzón's extraterritorial attempts to accuse foreign nationals of crimes against humanity).
Certainly founding members of the People's Party, such as Manuel Fraga, were members of Franco's government, and there may be a fear that the more aggressively socialist opposition may wish to use these exhumations to imply thereby the intentions of modern Spanish political leaders may be less than entirely democratic, and that established political entities may seek to influence the course of justice (for example – between 2005 and 2010 – when the PP and PSOE denied the Spanish Senate
The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid.
T ...
the necessary majority to approve fresh judges for the Constitutional Court of Spain
The Constitutional Court ( es, Tribunal Constitucional) is the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution, with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes made by any public body, central, regional, or local in Spa ...
)
Banco Santander corruption allegation
The allegation is that Garzón dropped (adjourned '' sine die'') a case against the director of Santander, Emilio Botín
Emilio Botín-Sanz de Sautuola García de los Ríos, '' iure uxoris'' Marquess of O'Shea (1 October 1934 – 10 September 2014) was a Spanish banker.[Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...]
follows a charge previously closed by the criminal court on 27 November 2006, since the alleged 1.2 million euro fee was deemed by the lower court to be in fact 216,000 euros, which was not paid to Garzón, but to the university foundation.
The Supreme Court investigating judge insisted that there was clear evidence of wrongdoing involving some US$2.5 million, but, because the complaint was originally laid on 12 June 2009, but the last payment was made in May 2006 the three-year statute of limitations relating to the Supreme Court had been exceeded by 25 days. It was not clear why the case, previously archived by a provincial court on 27 November 2006 was not referred back to the lower court where a 15-year statute of limitations applies provided there is disclosure of 'further and better evidence' which might then lead to a jury trial.
This Supreme Court corruption case against Garzón was closed on 13 February 2012, on the next-but-one working day after Garzón's conviction for bugging the Gürtel corruption suspects.
Supreme Court trial
On 9 February 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that judge Baltasar Garzón was guilty of illegally ordering the placement of wiretaps in jailhouses to record conversations between inmates and their lawyers in a case of corruption. Under Spanish law, such wiretaps are only expressly permitted for terrorism cases and the legality of their use in other cases is more vague. The Supreme Court also barred Garzón from the legal profession for 11 years. The court said: "Garzón's methods are typical of totalitarian countries, without any respect of the right of defence."
Since Garzon can not appeal the charges, his career as a judge is likely to have ended. He was also fined €2,500. People protested the trial and ruling outside the court with banners calling for "justice" and photos of the people said to have been killed by the Franco regime. Many other judges also came out in support of Garzón.
Given the severity of the accusations against the Supreme Court, a large number of persons and institutions issued statements in support of the ruling. The progressive Judges for Democracy Judges for Democracy ( es, Jueces para la Democracia, JpD) is one of the five Spanish professional associations of judges and magistrates. It was founded by Juan Alberto Belloch. Since judges and magistrates in Spain are barred from joining class tr ...
association stated that "The Supreme Court and any other criminal court can only be asked to apply the law and respect the presumption of innocence. This must be both in determining the facts and in interpreting the norm. Whether or not one agrees with the Court's decision and the interpretation on which it is founded, we must state that the Supreme Court has ruled in this context and should not be disqualified as such an institution for it.
Margarita Robles, member of the General Council of the Judiciary
The General Council of the Judiciary ( es, Consejo General del Poder Judicial, CGPJ) is the national council of the judiciary of Spain. It is the constitutional body that governs all the Judiciary of Spain, such as courts, and judges, as it ...
and former Subsecretary of State with the socialist government, said that the Supreme Court ruling was "legally impeccable" and had been produced as part of a procedure "with all the guarantees."
It was later revealed that the Supreme Court had made a mistake in sentencing by overlooking the fact the Garzón had been suspended for nearly a year in the period 2010/2011 solely on the basis of his pending trial on a charge relating to his investigation of Francoist atrocities, a charge on which he was subsequently cleared.
Allegations of politicisation of the judiciary
In June 2010, Garzón was recruited as a consultant to the ICC.
At the end of October 2010, the re-election of Judge Juan Saavedra to the Spanish Supreme Court Penal Division reactivated the three judicial processes against Garzón. The re-appointment of a right-wing judge may have suggested to the Spanish legal authorities that the complaints had sufficient weight to merit continuing the domestic process despite the rulings in the European Court of Human Rights cited above.
The alleged "political colonisation" of the Spanish judiciary is an increasingly recurrent theme in the Spanish centre/left-wing media. More than 1,500 Spanish judges earlier this year criticised the influence of the major parties in the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Council (CGPJ) via a manifesto that for the first time exposed publicly what was claimed to be a long-standing open secret among Spanish lawyers.
In a 2011 book, Garzón wrote that he had at times exceeded the provisions of domestic Spanish legislation, but quoted external sources, including international treaties, to explain his behavior.
Other work
In July 2012, WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
founder Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army int ...
recruited the disbarred Garzón as head of his legal team.
In September 2012, Garzón wrote an article in ''The Journal Jurisprudence'' outlining his views on sexual violence during wartimes.
Awards and honors
*2009 Hermann Kesten Prize
*2010 International Hrant Dink Award
*2010 Prix René Cassin awarded by Jeune République, after a jury decision composed by Dominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac.
In his career working at the Ministry ...
, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Bertrand Badie, Stanley Hoffmann, Souleymane Bashir Diagne, Eva Joly, Mireille Delmas Marty and others. The work was designed by Miquel Barcelo Miquel may refer to:
* the Catalan form of the given name Michael
* Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel (1811–1871), a Dutch botanist
* Gérard Miquel (born 1946), a member of the Senate of France
* Ignasi Miquel (born 1992), a Spanish football player ...
(May 2010)
*2011 Kant-Weltbürger-Preis, in Freiburg i.Br. in Germany, after a jury decision of the Kant Gesellschaft. The papers of the ceremony on 7 May 2011 were published in Berthold Lange (Hrsg.), Weltbürgerrrecht, Ergon Verlag, Würzburg, 2012. .Prix
Garzón was awarded 22 ''Honoris Causa'' Doctoral Degrees in 10 years, between 1999 and November 2009: 16 from Latin American countries, two from the US, two from the UK, and one from Belgium. His 22nd "Honoris Causa" Doctoral Degree award, awarded by the University of Jaén on 9 November 2009, was his first to be received in Spain.
Bibliography
* (Christmas tale: A different world is possible), Ediciones de la Tierra (2002)
* (A world without fear), Plaza & Janes, S.A. and Debolsillo (February 2005)
*Prologue of (And if my child starts using drugs? Practical tips to prevent, know, and act), Begoña del Pueyo, Alejandro Perales (Editorial Grijalbo) (June 2005)
* (The fight against terrorism and its limits), Adhara Publicaciones, S.L. (February 2006)
* Denis Robert, , Stock, 1996. Interviews and portrait of seven anticorruption judges: Bernard Bertossa, Edmondo Bruti Liberati, Gherardo Colombo, Benoît Dejemeppe
Benoît () is a French male given name. It is less frequently spelled Benoist. The name comes from the Latin word , which means "the one who says the good", equivalent in meaning to Bénédicte or the English name Benedict. A female derivative ...
, Baltasar Garzón Real, Carlos Jimenez Villarejo, Renaud Van Ruymbeke
Renaud van Ruymbeke (born 19 August 1952) is an investigative magistrate, well known for specializing in political and financial corruption cases. He investigated the French-Taiwan Frigates Affair, which was related to the Clearstream, and the ...
*
See also
*Carmelo Soria
Carmelo Soria (Madrid, 5 November 1921 – Santiago de Chile, 16 July 1976) was a Spanish-Chilean United Nations diplomat. A member of the CEPAL (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) in the 1970s, he was assassi ...
, Spanish diplomat assassinated in 1976 by the Chilean DINA
Dina ( ar, دينا, he, דִּינָה, also spelled Dinah, Dena, Deena) is a female given name.
Women
* Dina bint Abdul-Hamid (1929–2019), Queen consort of Jordan, first wife of King Hussein
* Princess Dina Mired of Jordan (born 1965), Princ ...
* Command responsibility
References
External links
Biography at SpainView
article at Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...
BBC News – Profile: Judge Baltasar Garzon
Judge Garzon Support Page
Baltasar Garzón y José María Mena en Canal-L: "El crimen organizado siempre busca espacios de impunidad"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garzon, Baltasar
1955 births
20th-century Spanish judges
21st-century Spanish judges
Censorship in Spain
Living people
People from the Province of Jaén (Spain)
Spanish socialists
University of Seville alumni