The UN asks the Government and the Supreme Court to account for the conviction of Judge Garzón

• By  Luis Díez ,  www.cuartopoder.es
• See original
• November 13, 2016

Judge Baltasar Garzón in a file image. / Efe

The UN Human Rights Committee demands clarification from the Spanish State regarding the prosecution and conviction of the judge of the National Court  Baltasar Garzón , following his investigations into the disappeared of the Franco regime and about the corruption of the Partido Popular (PP), known like the Gürtel and Bárcenas cases. As will be remembered, Garzón was accused of practicing "illegal eavesdropping" on the lawyers of a defendant of the Gürtel plot who was in pretrial detention, and was prosecuted for alleged fraud and sentenced four years ago by the Supreme Court, which expelled him from prison. judicial career.

Earlier this year, Garzón appealed to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations through the specialized  Human Rights in Practice office  headed by  Helen Duffy , for the arbitrary nature of the criminal investigations and prosecutions to which he was subjected and which led to his Disqualification as a judge. 

Duffy's letter collects the unusual criminal accusation of Garzón for receiving the complaints and carrying out investigations into the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Franco dictatorship, which today continue unpunished.

It also picks up his incrimination for judicial decisions to investigate the web of corruption that affects the PP and whose denunciations ended up involving the treasurer of the party,  Luis Bárcenas , appointed by President  Mariano Rajoy . 

The information requirements sent by Garzón to the Swiss bank ended up uncovering the fortune in the name of Bárcenas (more than 40 million euros) and provided documentation committed to Rajoy himself.

It is true that by then (first months of 2013), the judicial investigation of the plot of corruption and alleged opaque and parallel financing of the PP, was no longer directed by Judge Garzón, but his successor in court 5 of the National Court,  Pablo Ruz , because the Supreme Court had already condemned him and expelled him from the judicial career. 

He did so on the basis of the alleged illegality of listening to the accused who, however, were not suspended, but maintained the instructor of the Superior Court of Madrid,   Antonio Pedreira , after Garzón was inhibited by the appearance of regional deputies in the plot and , therefore, aforados, which were the popular  Alberto López Viejo, Benjamín Martín Blasco  and  Alfonso Bosch .

Judge Garzón's brief on judicial political persecution also tells how the Supreme Court kept him prosecuted for a presumed crime, knowing that he had prescribed it. 

It was the complaint of the Clean Hands entity about a supposed profit of the judge with scholarships from a bank in exchange for a favor court deal. This process had been filed twice and although the examining magistrate was perfectly aware of the statute of limitations, he did not file it until Garzón was convicted for the investigation of the Gürtel plot.

The complaint of the former Spanish judge before the Human Rights Committee of the UN has been supported by the expert opinions of thirteen professors, judges and high level experts in the international arena. 

The Spanish professor  Araceli Manjon-Cabeza Olmeda  has issued a report on  the Law of Prevarication; 

six experts have assessed the case in light of international standards of impunity and the other six have drafted their reports under the magnitude of international standards on judicial independence.

Now the UN Committee, in whose Security Council sits the Spanish Government until 2018, summons the Spanish State (Supreme Court and Government) to respond on the coercion, pressure and violation of the independence of Judge Garzón; on the unprecedented interpretation of the prevarication to prosecute and convict him, and also on the statute of limitations for crimes against humanity applied in Spain, in contrast to international law, for which Garzón was accused and prosecuted. 

The magistrates of the Supreme Court who condemned him, including the new state attorney general,  José Manuel Maza, and the government presided by Rajoy have a period of six months to base their answers and answer.

Protestona @ protestona1 

If for a joke Carrero ask for two years in prison I do not know if I dare to say that Francisco Franco was a criminal and genocidal dictator and that they should throw their bones to dogs ... No, I better not say porsiaca ...

★ ★ Antidote @Yo_Soy_Asin

How curious if the FASCISTAS insult you or threaten you with a bomb is idiocy and it is not a crime. But sweet to make fun of the FACHAS that enchironan ...

Nuri @ Nuri10137949 

And the PP has little shame to keep saying that they are isolated cases and a plot against the PP The most corruPPto country in Europe, with a plunder of € 203.215 Million ... What pussies crisis, LOOTING! They are thieves #IlegalizacionDelPP

j