Thousands of People Rally for Famous Spanish Judge After He Is Banned from the Bench
Updated: A Spanish judge famous for his indictments of notorious international wrongdoers has lost his judgeship, but he still has the support of thousands of people who marched in his support on Sunday.
Spain’s Supreme Court disbarred Judge Baltasar Garzon last Thursday for ordering jailhouse wiretaps of inmates speaking with their lawyers, report the Associated Press and the New York Times. The 56-year-old Garzon is barred from the judiciary for 11 years.
Garzon had used the concept of universal jurisdiction to indict Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks and former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998.
Protesters rallied outside the Supreme Court in Madrid on Sunday, AP says. They carried signs and chanted, “Garzon, friend, Spain is with you.”
One other private prosecution against Garzon is pending. It contends Garzon investigated atrocities that occurred during the Spanish civil war despite a law conferring amnesty. Reuters has coverage. Another case concerning Garzon’s ties to a Spanish bank that financed his human rights seminars has been dropped, CNN reports.
Updated at 9:30 a.m. to report the Spanish bank case has been dropped.
