Sir, – As lawyers working in the field of human rights, we express our grave concern at the recent decision of the Spanish supreme court to ban Judge Baltasar Garzón from judicial office for 11 years for having authorised the wiretapping of communications between detainees and their lawyers in the course of an investigation into high-profile white-collar crime and political corruption involving important members of Spain’s ruling party (Editorial, February 13th).
Irrespective of the wider human rights implications of wiretapping in such circumstances, we believe that there are serious grounds for believing that Judge Garzón has been the victim of, at the very least, a miscarriage of justice.
Since he was appointed Magistrate of the Spanish Audiencia Nacional in 1988 Judge Garzón has fearlessly and successfully investigated very significant cases relating to drug-trafficking, terrorism (including state-sponsored death-squads used by the Spanish government), organised crime, money-laundering, and political corruption, literally putting his and his family’s lives at risk.
His contribution to international human rights law has been extraordinary, being a pioneer of the concept of universal justice, ordering the arrest of Gen Pinochet in 1998, and investigating the Chilean and Argentinian dictatorships for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity. In 2006 he declared himself competent to investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Franco regime. The Spanish supreme court prosecuted him for this in 2009, even though the DPP’s view was that he had not acted criminally. This fact, coupled with the limited changes undergone by the Spanish judiciary since the Franco regime, make it difficult not to believe that Judge Garzón is the victim of a political and judicial witch-hunt and that his expulsion from the judiciary amounts to a miscarriage of justice.
His case raises concerns for the respect shown to the rule of law within the European Union. Judge Garzón has consistently acted without fear or favour to advance international human rights law by promoting universal justice. His is a great loss not only to Spain but to the whole system of international justice. We fervently hope he will succeed in vindicating his name. – Yours, etc,