First Garzón trial has opened
Judge Garzón delivers his acceptance speech after receiving the 2011 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. Photo Len Tsou
Judge Garzón’s first trial before Spain’s Supreme Court has started. Garzón is accused of knowingly going against the law (“prevarication”) when ordering allegedly illegal wiretaps while investigating a corruption ring involving the regional leadership of the conservative–and now governing–Partido Popular. The trial, which is expected to last three days, involves seven magistrates from the Supreme Court (which has some eighty magistrates in total), three of whom are considered to be liberal and four conservative. The Spanish and international media are following the trial closely. For continuous coverage, see El País and Público. In the English-language media, the news is covered today by CNN, the Guardian, Washington Post, and the BBC (which profiles the Judge here), among others. In his spoken column today for El País, the widely respected senior journalist Iñaki Gabilondo denounced the trial as a farce, a clear personal vendetta against Garzón from a judiciary that “never accepted him.” A second trial, in which Garzón is again accused of prevarication when initiating an investigation of crimes against humanity committed under Franco’s rule, is set to open next week. See previous Volunteer coverage here.
respected journalist Inaki gabilondo,Ja ja ja ja ja , what ajoke
You should investigate garzon when he as a judge investigated the state crimes commited by the sapnish governement in 1987 and after jailind two cops , he putted the case in draw and told the head responsible of the GAL , the president gonzalez that he would burried the case if he was made minister of the governement. Banana republic style