Time Magazine on Garzón
Lisa Abend writes from Madrid:
Charged with knowingly overreaching his jurisdiction when he opened an investigation into another dictator’s crimes — in this case, Spain’s Francisco Franco — Garzón has been suspended from his job while he awaits the start of his criminal trial.
The charges against Garzón date to 2008, when, at the request of victims’ family members, he opened an investigation into the disappearance of an estimated 114,000 people during Spain’s 1936-39 civil war and the early years of the dictatorship that followed. As legal justification for that probe, Garzón characterized the repressive actions of Franco and 34 of his officials as crimes against humanity. In a country where the recent past remains remarkably divisive, that is precisely where he ran into trouble.
More here.
