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Title: Spain's Franco-era probe judge Baltasar Garzon on trial
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URL Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16696330
Published: Jan 24, 2012
Author: staff
Post Date: 2012-01-24 09:16:22 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 59
Comments: 3
A high-profile Spanish judge has gone on trial accused of violating a 1977 amnesty law by investigating civil war and Franco-era crimes. The prosecution of Baltasar Garzon, who famously indicted late Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet, has been brought by two right-wing groups. They say he overstepped his powers by investigating the disappearance of 114,000 people between 1936 and 1975. He says the acts were crimes against humanity and so not subject to amnesty. Human rights groups have described the Supreme Court trial as a scandal. Relatives of victims from the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco were among those demonstrating in support of Judge Garzon outside the court in Madrid. Continue reading the main story Charges against Garzon Violating the Franco-era amnesty law Illegally authorising police to record conversations of lawyers with their clients Dropping an investigation into the head of Spain's biggest bank, Santander, after receiving payments for a course sponsored by the bank Profile: Judge Baltasar Garzon The BBC's Tom Burridge in Spain says the case has wider implications for the country - and the idea that crimes in the past should not be the subject of investigations today. This is one of three prosecutions brought by private parties faced by Mr Garzon. If convicted at any of the trials, Judge Garzon, 56, could be suspended from the legal profession for up to 20 years. 'Extraordinary' testimony Judge Garzon gained a global reputation for his investigations into alleged human rights abuses committed around the world. Continue reading the main story Analysis image of Tom Burridge Tom Burridge BBC News, Madrid Judge Garzon's trial has shocked some outside of Spain. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called it a "serious attack on democracy". But, in Spain, the trial forms part of a complex debate over whether the country should investigate the crimes of the past. Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, the group that launched the prosecution against him, is among those on the Spanish right who think the 1977 amnesty should be respected. They see Baltasar Garzon as a "judge of the left". Then there are the hundreds of mainly elderly people outside the Supreme Court, supporting Judge Garzon. Some had relatives who disappeared under Franco, others were members of the Spanish political left. The main word on their banners is "justice". In so many ways, Spain has moved on from that era. However, the outcome of this trial, decided by Supreme Court judges, will be an important moment for the country and its relationship with its past. He initiated the arrest in the UK of former Chilean military ruler Augusto Pinochet in 1998 and indicted Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda suspects in 2003. But to his critics, he is a left-wing busybody obsessed with self-promotion, correspondents say. It was his promise in 2008 to investigate the disappearance of tens of thousands of people during the Franco era, including ordering the excavation of mass graves, that drew the most ire. Clean Hands and Liberty and Identity, two organisations which have brought Tuesday's prosecution, say he should have heeded the amnesty agreed in 1977, two years after General Franco's death. "Without doubt Judge Garzon has reopened wounds which we Spaniards - whatever our political beliefs - had totally recovered from," Miguel Bernard Ramon, of Clean Hands, told the BBC. But many of the relatives of those who disappeared had pinned their hopes for justice on Judge Garzon. Some 22 witnesses called by the defence to speak at the trial will testify for the families of victims. Continue reading the main story Spanish Civil War On 18 July 1936, Spain's military - backed by Nazi Germany - attacked the democratically-elected government It led to three years of Civil War and four decades of fascist dictatorship under Gen Francisco Franco The war came to be seen as a battle between communism and fascism It drew thousands of foreign volunteers, fighting on both sides About 250,000 people died during the conflict An amnesty in 1977, two years after Franco's death, ruled out public airing of events during that time But families of some 114,000 who disappeared during those years have become increasingly vocal about wanting answers "For the first time those people will be able to tell before a court what the dictatorship did to them," Emilio Silva, President of the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, told the AFP news agency. Reed Brody, a lawyer with the US-based group Human Rights Watch, said it was paradoxical that Judge Garzon should be put on trial for pursuing the crimes of dictatorship in his own country. "Do the victims of Franco have less rights than the victims of Pinochet?" he said. Last week Judge Garzon was in court on charges of illegally authorising police to bug the conversations of lawyers with clients. He denied wrongdoing and said he had always sought to protect detainees' right to a fair defence. His third trial, for which no date has been set, involves allegations that he took bribes.
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
These Judges and Courts are uniformly trained by their banker owners ! "EFF em" "The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector " Plato.
Franco operated much the same way as the Germans, since they were both Natiuonal Socialist States. "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Compare the on-going persecution of geriatric Germans who guarded work-camp gates in WWII versus the non-prosecution of Marxist-Leninist Jews who slaughtered tens of millions of Christian gentile's in the Soviet Union. If it's OK to investigate Franco's suppression of communist agitators then let's open up the can of worms in Russia and track down and prosecute the surviving Cheka/KGB jews living in Israel right now.
#2. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
They say he overstepped his powers by investigating the disappearance of 114,000 people between 1936 and 1975.
#3. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
The BBC's Tom Burridge in Spain says the case has wider implications for the country - and the idea that crimes in the past should not be the subject of investigations today.
-Alex Kurtagic
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