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Spain judge Garzon appeals high court indictment

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon on Saturday appealed an indictment that charges him with abuse of power for launching an investigation of alleged war crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War. Garzon alleges that the indictment issued by Spanish Supreme Court judge Luciano Varela is politically motivated, compromises judicial independence and seeks to impose a specific interpretation of a 1977 law granting amnesty for political crimes committed under Francisco Franco. Garzon also complains of the short time he was given appeal the indictment order, which resulted from Varela's summary motion to shorten the length of the trial. Garzon's indictment has sparked international outrage and massive protests in Spain. Also on Saturday, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, an organization for relatives of Franco Regime victims, announced that it intends to file a criminal complaint against Varela for violating international law in the application of the amnesty law. Members of the organization have said that, if necessary, they would pursue a suit against Varela in courts in Chile or Argentina through universal jurisdiction. In 2008, Garzon ordered the exhumation of 19 mass graves in Spain in order to assemble a definitive national registry of Civil War victims, despite the amnesty law. After ruling in February that Garzon may have exceeded his jurisdictional authority by launching the investigation, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled last month that he could be formally charged. Garzon has consistently defended the validity of the investigation by insisting that he acted within the bounds of the law. Garzon is widely known for using universal jurisdiction extensively in the past to bring several high-profile cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 10, 2010 (boomark / email).