Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)CRUSADING judge Baltasar Garzon has been suspended from his post.
Garzon – renowned for targeting figures such as Augusto Pinochet and Osama Bin Laden – is being punished for ignoring Spain’s 1977 Amnesty Law.
He was later forced to drop his case and his suspension was unanimously adopted by the General Council of the Judiciary.
The 54-year-old – the Olive Press’ man of the year in 2008 – is accused of abusing his powers by launching an inquiry into crimes committed under Franco’s rule.
He was later forced to drop his case and his suspension was unanimously adopted by the General Council of the Judiciary.
Garzon – hugely popular with the Spanish left and human rights campaigners – maintains that his inquiry was legitimate.
The silver-haired judge has also asked to take a leave of absence to work for the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Judicial sources confirmed that Garzon wants to work as an ICC advisor for seven months.
An extraordinary man – many people in Spain and abroad have a great deal to thank him for.
yerma, get a life; he’s a loser!!!!!!!!!!!
what a strange comment….surely if he were a ‘loser’ there wouldn’t be so many people from the far right trying to shut him up. On the contrary, he’s achieved an enormous amount in the area of Human Rights. Perhaps you feel the many thousands of Spaniards who are trying to find out about what happened to family members who were murdered during the Civil War should ‘get a life too’?
Garzón has been courageous in pursuing corrupt politicians, drug cartels, and others but he acquired many enemies along the way. His investigations into the death squads organised by the government of Felipe Gonzales alientated many old-stagers in the PSOE, and his exposure of corruption in the PP alienated the right. So despite enormous popularity and support from celebrities like Pilar Bardem and Almodóvar, there’s no political clout behind it.
It’s a sad day because it signals the increasing confidence of the fascist right, and the impotence of the left.