SPAIN’S BEST-KNOWN examining magistrate, Baltasar Garzon, is to stand trial for knowingly exceeding his judicial powers by launching an enquiry into atrocities committed during and after the Spanish civil war.
Mr Garzon is alleged to have abused his authority when he began his investigation into the disappearance of tens of thousands of Spaniards during the 1936-39 war and the Franco dictatorship that followed. He authorised the exhuming of dozens of mass graves believed to hold the remains of many of those who disappeared.
The case against Mr Garzon comes after a complaint by two ultra right-wing groups – one of which was Gen Franco’s Falangist Party. They allege he had knowingly ignored the 1977 amnesty law, which pardoned war crimes on both sides.
The amnesty was meant to draw a line under the dictatorship and pave the way for a peaceful democratic transition. So successful was this self-imposed amnesia that today thousands of young Spaniards, born after Franco’s death in 1975, have little or no knowledge of their country’s past.
His opponents accuse him of opening up old wounds by bringing up memories best forgotten.
Luciano Varela, a supreme court judge, accepted the case and this week ruled that Mr Garzon was aware he was exceeding his powers when he began his investigation.
“Conscious of his lack of jurisdiction, he constructed artificial arguments to justify his control of the penal proceedings,” Judge Varela said.
Mr Garzon and international jurists argue there can be no posthumous immunity for crimes against humanity nor, as in this case, when the remains of those who disappeared have never been found. Mr Garzon believes that the Falangists, which brought the private prosecution, was responsible for many of the atrocities.
He is expected to stand trial later this month, and, if found guilty could be suspended for up to 20 years. Given that he is already 54, this would effectively end his career. He denies the accusations against him and has vowed to clear his name. He first hit the international headlines with his campaign in 1998 to extradite the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from the UK to answer human rights abuses.
He has the backing of the International Commission of Jurists, which praised his courage for putting his life on the line by prosecuting many sensitive cases including Basque terrorists, Mafia drug barons, al-Qaeda and political corruption. Lawyers around the world have voiced their support for Mr Garzon.
Emilio Silva, head of the Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory, denounced the case. “This is a sad day for Spanish justice. It is an insult to the victims of the Franco dictatorship,” he said.