A judge appointed by the left to haunt the right over the Franco surveillance crimes despite the former general amnesty declarations, has himself violated human rights by ordering illegal surveillance in an ongoing case. It seems the ex-government of Zapatero was trying to make Franco look good. =============================================================================== Garzón gets eleven year ban in phone tapping case The day after the Franco trial ended, the court delivered a guilty verdict in the Gürtel case 10.02.12 - 13:01 - Mateo Balín | The Spanish Supreme Court has sentenced former high court judge Baltasar Garzón to an eleven year ban from the legal profession, which effectively means an end of his career in Spain. Just a day after Garzón completed his defence in the Franco crimes trial, the court delivered its verdict in the Gürtel phone tapping case that had been heard last month. The magistrates were unanimous in finding him guilty of corrupt practice after he authorised the tapping of telephone conversations between the main suspects in the Gürtel corruption case and their lawyers while they were being held in custody. The sentence maintains that the magistrates actions caused an unjustified reduction in the right to defence adding that this practice placed the entire Spanish penal system on a par with totalitarian regimes in which anything is considered valid to obtain information that is of interest to the state. During the trial Garzón defended his innocence, maintaining that the suspects right to defence was guaranteed at all times. Franco crimes The sentence comes just a day after the end of another trial against Baltazar Garzón in which he is accused of overstepping his duties in opening an investigation into crimes committed during the Franco regime. My conscience is clear, he told the Supreme Court. Garzón could be facing a further ban of up to 20 years if the court finds that he is guilty of corrupt practice in ordering the investigation, allegedly violating an amnesty law of 1977. In his summing-up he brought up a reflection on human values by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. I was guided by the need to protect abandoned victims, he said, bringing an end to one of the most high-profile trials the Supreme Court has seen. The reports concerned mass criminal offences, he explained. They were illegal detentions because the whereabouts of these people was not known and they were investigated in the context of crimes against humanity. http://www.surinenglish.com/20120210/news/spain/garzon-gets-eleven-year-201202101301.html
