The Guardian on Garzón
Reed Brody today in The Guardian:
Thirty-five years after the death of General Francisco Franco, Spain is finally prosecuting someone in connection with the crimes of his dictatorship, and of the Spanish civil war which came before it. Unfortunately, the defendant in the case is Baltasar Garzón, the judge who sought to investigate those crimes. […] Prosecuting a judge for issuing a controversial decision, even one overruled on appeal (in a split decision), is a dangerous attack on judicial independence.
More here.
It’s absolutely disgusting that this case against Garzon is proceding.
‘The Law of Forgetting’ was brought into being at a time when it was convenient for Spain to move on at a time when democracy still had only a tenuous hold in Spain. Now is the time for Spain to have confidence in its democracy and come to terms with the war crimes commited under Franco. The crimes perpetrated by the right and left were not equal, particularly as the persecution of the left by Franco continued for many years after the end of the Civil War.