Baltasar Garzon

The Minister for Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, has generally had good things to say about the ex judge, Baltasar Garzón, and has never criticised Garzón’s actions, even when he was investigating the Gürtel case, and now he had to decide whether or not to grant Garzón a pardon. Garzón has been served an eleven year ban from his office because of the Gürtel case when he ordered recordings be made between the prisoners and their lawyers in jail. It has effectively ended his judicial career...Read Full Story

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been acquitted of improperly investigating human rights abuses under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Spain's Supreme Court acquits Baltasar Garzon 6-1 Garzon has been removed from the bench after his conviction in another case He has said he will appeal that decision as well Madrid (CNN) -- Spain's best-known judge was acquitted Monday of improperly investigating human rights abuses under the former dictatorship of Francisco Franco...Read Full Story

Baltazar Garzón. Photo/Wikimedia The Spanish Judge whose work triggered the investigation that nabbed Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet back in 1998 believes that Spain could bring charges against six Bush Jr. administration officials for clearing the way for the use of torture during the Iraq war – but he is being blocked by charges making him the culprit. On 17 January 2012, Al Jazeera reported that Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon had “gone on trial in the country’s Supreme Court on [three...Read Full Story

Hugo RelvaAmnesty International20 January 2012Judge Baltasar GarzónThe Spanish Supreme Court’s pending criminal trial of a pioneering investigative judge is a threat to human rights and judicial independence, Amnesty International said today.Judge Baltasar Garzón, 56, faces trial in Madrid on 24 January on charges he abused his power while leading an investigation into crimes under international law committed during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War and the ensuing decades of dictatorship under...Read Full Story

A court in Madrid acquitted Spain's renowned human rights judge Baltasar Garzon on Monday of breaching the terms of an amnesty by trying to investigate atrocities committed during the Franco era.Six members of of the seven-panel bench came out in favour of acquitting the 56-year-old, according to a judicial official in the Spanish capital.Garzon has argued that the atrocities, including the disappearance of more than 100,000 people during the 1936-39 Civil War and General Francisco Franco's...Read Full Story