The rally in support of Garzón. Photo Reuters.

Thousands of protesters, led a group of prominent writers, actors, and activists, took to the streets in Madrid this weekend to express their indignation at the persecution of Judge Baltasar Garzón. Meanwhile, an increasing number of judicial and human-rights experts in Spain and elsewhere fear that the three Supreme Court cases against the judge are having a devastating effect on the worldwide fight against impunity, victims’ rights, and the reputation of Spain’s judicial system. For extensive English-language coverage, see Giles Tremlett in the Guardian, the BBC, and the Associated Press,

Exactly one year after the release of our film Granito: How To Nail A Dictator at the Sundance Film Festival, the ex-dictator of Guatemala, General Efraín Ríos Montt, was brought up on charges of genocide in a Guatemalan court and placed under house arrest.

The culmination of decades of work by human rights advocates, forensic scientists and survivors of the Guatemalan genocide forced former dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt to appear in court Thursday after 30 years of impunity, for a hearing to decide whether there was enough evidence to take him to trial on charges of genocide.  This was a major event in Guatemala with hundreds of Maya people coming down from the highlands to gather in front of the courthouse, holding a candle vigil for the their murdered family members.

The prosecution spent hours presenting overwhelming evidence in the form of military documents,  exhumation reports, photos and footage from our film Granito: How To Nail A Dictator, linking Ríos Montt directly to hundreds of deaths and disappearances. Surviving family members, Ixil Maya in traditional dress, crowded the standing room only courtroom in stunned silence. Some wept. Outside the courthouse, in an open area now named Human Rights Plaza, hundreds more watched the proceedings on a huge screen.

The defense argued that Ríos Montt did not have command responsibility over his Army officers in the highlands, and that he was not responsible for the massacres.  This is belied by a clip from Granito that the prosecution and the Guatemalan media used to show the general taking command responsibility, saying that “If I don’t control the army, then who does?”

Judge Carol Patricia Flores deliberated for hours and returned her decision to prosecute Ríos Montt on charges of genocide, place him under house arrest, and set bail for USD $65,000. People hugged, cheered and set off firecrackers outside when the Judge read her decision stating that “the extermination of the civilian population was the result of military plans, and that these plans were executed under the command of Ríos Montt.”

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NYU has consistently denied the charges, as have the corporate sponsors, who have a long history supporting programs at the university. In an editorial today, El País states that “This one is, surely, the weakest and most nonsensical of the cases against Garzón, and Marchena’s brief only increases the size of the nonsense.”

Curiously, Marchena is part of the tribunal that is currently deciding Garzón’s fate in the case of the alleged illegal wiretaps of suspects in a political corruption case, whose trial concluded last week. A second trial, in which Garzón is charged with knowingly breaking the law when ordering an investigation of Francoist crimes, is resuming on Tuesday.

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In attendance were several persons with close connections to the Second Spanish Republic. Carmen Negrín, granddaughter of Juan Negrín López; Cecile Rol-Tanguy, widow of Henir Rol-Tanguy, former Commissar of the XIV Brigade and commander of the French Resistance in Paris during its Liberation. Three sons of French International Brigaders were also present: José Fort retired journalist from l’Humanité, Jean-Claude Lefort, retired Member of Parliament (PCF) and Pierre Gosnat, mayor of Ivry sur Seine and Member of Parliament (PCF).

Following a reception, the documentary film “The Blue Triangle” was shown. Spanish Republicans interned in Nazi camps wore blue triangles with an “S” stamped on it to indicate that they were “apatrides” or stateless persons of (Red) Spanish origin. The video traces the work of ten local teenagers and their Spanish teacher as they comb the municipal archives in search of information on the 45 Spanish Republicans who survived the Nazi death camp of Mathaussen and were welcomed to Ivry in 1945. The documentary underlined the relationship of this working class municipality with the Spanish Republic of the 1930s, but also subtily illustrates the importance of retaining family memories and histories, something especially relevant to the ten teenage students most of whom are members of immigrant families whose parents or grandparents were not born in France.

Alfonso Cañete, a 93 year old Andalusian and sole remaining suvivor of Mathaussen living in Ivry sur Seine, was in attendance for the film premiere as well as several family members of other deported Spaniards long since passed away.

Ivry sur Seine continued to have a strong link to Spain in many aspects even after 1945. Julián Grimau lived in Ivry prior to his return to Spain where he was arrested and executed by the Franco Regime in 1963. Grimau’s widow Angela continued to live and work in town until her passing.

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Garzón on trial at the Spanish Supreme Court. Photo AFP.

The trial against Garzón “is fueled by domestic political vendettas rather than substantive legal arguments,” Dan Kaufman writes in today’s New York Times, “and it could dramatically set back international efforts to hold human-rights violators accountable for their crimes.”

The Supreme Court’s zeal to try him has little legal basis; rather, it reflects Spanish elites’ widespread unease with applying international legal principles to Spain’s conflicted history and a deep-seated animosity toward Judge Garzón that is as much personal as political.

More here. Garzón’s trial began on Tuesday and was promptly adjourned for a week, as both the defense and the prosecutor requested that the case be closed, and Garzón absolved, in light of the severe irregularities in the handling of the case by Judge Varela, and his processing of the charges brought by two small, extreme right-wing organizations (see “Revise and Resubmit”). For extensive previous ALBA coverage, see here.

Baltasar Garzón in New York City, 14 May 2011. Photo Richard Bermack

(En castellano.) If there were credit rating agencies devoted to evaluating the moral health of a country’s institutions, yesterday “Spain” would almost certainly have been downgraded to junk-bond status. Its Supreme Court opened the first of three trials against Judge Baltasar Garzón, thus initiating a three-pronged attack on judicial independence and offering up a spectacular exhibition before the entire world of how, despite more than three decades of democratic reform, personal, professional and political vendettas still have a place in the country’s highest institutions. While Spain’s government demands austerity from the people of Spain to placate Moodys and company, its Supreme Court severely damages the nation’s moral credit rating, by obstinately pressing forward in what is clearly an exercise in account settling.

Baltasar Garzón in New York City, 14 May 2011. Photo Richard Bermack

(En inglés.) Si existieran agencias de calificación crediticia que se dedicaran a evaluar el estado moral de las instituciones de un país, ayer “España”, sin duda, habría sido devaluado al status de “bonos basura”. Su Tribunal Supremo abrió el primer juicio de tres contra el Juez Baltasar Garzón, iniciando así su ataque tri-partito contra la independencia judicial, y ofreciendo ante todo el mundo una espectacular demostración de que, a pesar de más de tres décadas de reforma democrática en España, las vendettas personales, profesionales y políticas, todavía tienen cabida en las instituciones más altas de la nación. Mientras el gobierno de España exige austeridad a los españoles para placar a los Moodys et cætera, su Tribunal Supremo perjudica gravemente el “rating” moral del país, con su continuación obcecada de lo que es claramente un ejercicio de ajuste de cuentas.

Judge Baltasar Garzón’s 1998 attempt to extradite General Pinochet from Britain to face charges of human rights abuses relating to the 1973 coup in Chile brought two judgments from the law lords allowing his extradition, and sparked a similar round of cases in Santiago. His pursuit of thugs from Argentina‘s 1976-83 junta forced that country’s courts to open their own investigations. The judge is today the target ofthree private prosecutions alleging he abused his powers – one over an investigation into the deaths of Spaniards executed by Franco’s men. If successful, the only man to have been punished for Franco’s crimes would be Judge Garzón himself. This smacks of political vendetta. It would be a travesty of justice if Spain‘s most famous judge were unable to work in his own land.

More coverage today from the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press.

Judge Garzón delivers his acceptance speech after receiving the 2011 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism. Photo Len Tsou

Judge Garzón’s first trial before Spain’s Supreme Court has started. Garzón is accused of knowingly going against the law (“prevarication”) when ordering allegedly illegal wiretaps while investigating a corruption ring involving the regional leadership of the conservative–and now governing–Partido Popular. The trial, which is expected to last three days, involves seven magistrates from the Supreme Court (which has some eighty magistrates in total), three of whom are considered to be liberal and four conservative. The Spanish and international media are following the trial closely. For continuous coverage, see El País and Público. In the English-language media, the news is covered today by CNN, the Guardian, Washington Post, and the BBC (which profiles the Judge here), among others. In his spoken column today for El País, the widely respected senior journalist Iñaki Gabilondo denounced the trial as a farce, a clear personal vendetta against Garzón from a judiciary that “never accepted him.” A second trial, in which Garzón is again accused of prevarication when initiating an investigation of crimes against humanity committed under Franco’s rule, is set to open next week. See previous Volunteer coverage here.

Judge Baltasar Garzón. Photo by Richard Bermack.

The international media are gearing up for the upcoming two trials of Judge Baltasar Garzón. “Is it Crash and Burn Time?” Daniel Woolls asks, writing for the Associated Press:

On Tuesday, Garzon goes on trial for allegedly ordering illegal jailhouse wiretaps in a domestic corruption probe. A week later he appears in court to face charges he overstepped his authority in the Civil War case. Supporters say he’s the victim of a witchhunt by courthouse colleagues jealous of his fame and of arch-conservatives angered by his attempt to revisit Spain’s war-time past. … Garzon doesn’t face jail time if convicted in either trial. But he can be removed from the bench for up to 20 years, which at his age — 56 — would in effect end his career as an investigating magistrate at the National Court.

Meanwhile, support for the embattled judge is building, from manifestations in Spain to Human Rights organizations. More here.