Judge Garzón delivers his acceptance speech after receiving the 2011 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. Photo Len Tsou

María Garzón, daughter of Baltasar Garzón, has published an open letter in response to the Supreme Court ruling that sentences her father to 11 years of disbarment:

This letter is addressed to all those who today break out the champagne to toast to the disbarment of Baltasar Garzón.

To you, who for years have spread insults and lies; to you, who have finally today reached your goal, won your trophy.

To all of you I will say that you will not make us bow our heads, that we will never shed one single tear because of you. We won’t give you that satisfaction.

You have hurt us, but you have not destroyed us; and far from causing us to lose our faith in this society, you have given us more strength to keep on fighting for a world in which there will be true Justice, one without sectarianism, one not driven by envy or backroom deals.

A Justice that respects the victims, one that applies the law without fear of reprisals. A true Justice, the Justice in which I was taught to believe since the moment I was born, and which I hope that my daughter, who still runs around in happy cluelessness, will know and learn to love, in spite of the fact that today it has been weakened. It has been a step backward for which you blame Baltasar, but which is not more than the reflection of your own condition.

But above all I hope that this blow, for which you have called for years, won’t be turned against our society, given the serious consequences that the jurisprudence created today may have.

Today you break out the champagne, but we will do the same, together, every night, because we know that my father is innocent and that our conscience is clear.

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Esta carta está dirigida a todos aquellos que hoy brindarán con champán por la inhabilitación de Baltasar Garzón.

A ustedes, que durante años han vertido insultos y mentiras; a ustedes, que por fin hoy han alcanzado su meta, conseguido su trofeo.

A todos ustedes les diré que jamás nos harán bajar la cabeza, que nunca derramaremos una sola lágrima por su culpa. No les daremos ese gusto.

Nos han tocado, pero no hundido; y lejos de hacernos perder la fe en esta sociedad nos han dado más fuerza para seguir luchando por un mundo en el que la Justicia sea auténtica, sin sectarismos, sin estar guiada por envidias; por acuerdos de pasillo.

Una Justicia que respeta a las víctimas, que aplica la ley sin miedo a las represalias. Una Justicia de verdad, en la que me han enseñado a creer desde que nací y que deseo que mi hija, que hoy corretea ajena a todo, conozca y aprenda a querer, a pesar de que ahora haya sido mermada. Un paso atrás que ustedes achacan a Baltasar pero que no es más que el reflejo de su propia condición.

Pero sobre todo, les deseo que este golpe, que ustedes han voceado desde hace años, no se vuelva en contra de nuestra sociedad, por las graves consecuencias que la jurisprudencia sembrada pueda tener.

Ustedes hoy brindarán con champán, pero nosotros lo haremos juntos, cada noche, porque sabemos que mi padre es inocente y que nuestra conciencia SÍ está tranquila.