Garzón files complaint against Spain's Supreme Court at Human Rights Court

SPAIN/EUROPE (Agencies) Judge Baltasar Garzón has filed a suit at the European Court of Human Rights in which he questions the procedure against him by the Supreme Court of Spain, in which he is accused of malfeasance for declaring his competence for investigating the crimes committed during the Franco era. In his suit for violation of the principal of judicial independence, the judge alleges that there is a violation of the freedom of interpretation of the law because "the victims are defenceless," among other things. Judge Garzón was suspended from his function at the National Court and is presently an advisor to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In his suit, he is represented by Interights, an organization based in London that specialises in international litigation on human rights cases.>
According to this organization in a communiqué, the objective of his case is to "assert the rights of Judge Garzón to carry out his functions without fear of judicial persecution." The suit alleges, among other things, that the procedure being carried out against the judge violates several of Spain's obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights, including the obligation of protecting judicial independence as well as the the protection of individuals against unfounded criminal proceedings.

"International law impedes indicting judges for their judicial decisions in order to protect their independence," the note continues. "The argument that amnesties and prescriptions are not applied to serious crimes ... including those against humanity, has the generalized support in all international law."

The communiqué goes on to say that the opinion of the head of Interights' department of litigation, Helen Duffy, the judge "is the victim of unjustified criminal proceedings that have a deep effect on himpersonally." The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the proceedings until the recusations laid by Garzón on five of the seven members of the Court are resolved. A date for the proceedings has yet to be decided.

(See Garzón takes Franco fight to European Court in El Pais in English)