Argentina will investigate the crimes of Francoism

I was a bit startled to see this title in the Spanish press this morning, but I am happy to see that the matter Spain has tried to keep internal for so long now has international players involved.This is a big deal!!

From: BBC News

4 September 2010 Last updated at 15:06 ET


Argentine court reopens Franco probe

An Argentine court has reopened an investigation into crimes against humanity in Spain during the rule of Gen. Francisco Franco.

The appeals court overturned a previous ruling that blocked a suit brought by Argentine relatives of two Spaniards killed under Franco.

It said they had a right to know if the case was being investigated.

Crimes committed under Franco and during the 1936-39 civil war are covered by an amnesty law in Spain.

The Argentine appeals court said a diplomatic request should be sent to Spain to ask what action it was taking to investigate crimes against humanity between 1936 and 1977.

'Systematic terror'

It said Spain should be asked if it was investigating the existence of "a systematic and deliberate plan to terrorise Spaniards who supported representative government by their physical elimination."

Human rights groups have welcomed the decision.

The lawsuit was opened in Argentina in April after the high-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon was forced to drop an investigation into killings during the civil war and under Franco's rule.

Judge Garzon was suspended after Spain's supreme court found that he had exceeded his authority by ignoring the 1977 amnesty law.

The Argentine lawsuit is based on the principal of universal justice.

Judge Garzon has previously invoked the same principle to investigate crimes against humanity committed during 1976-83 military rule in Argentina, as well as to seek the extradition of the late Chilean military ruler, Augusto Pinochet.

Spain's 1977 amnesty law, which pardoned political crimes by both sides in the civil war, was seen as vital to ensure a successful transition to democracy after Franco died in 1975.

Tens of thousands of people were killed and buried in unmarked graves during the Spanish civil war and under Gen Franco's subsequent rule, but no-one has ever been prosecuted for the killings.

Support for Judge Baltasar Garzón

The Spanish-language blog and association La Memoria Viva was first to post information on the following "Manifiesto por la Justicia de Garzón," which I have included in the original Spanish below, along with my English translation in italics, following each paragraph. If you are so inclined, please consider signing the document here as a show of support for Judge Garzón. I would think that the more international support offered, the better.

Manifiesto por la Justicia de Garzón

El juez Baltasar Garzón ha ejercido una justicia de forma continuada y valiente durante veinte años en la Audiencia Nacional, comprometida con la defensa de los derechos humanos en España y en el mundo contra dictadores, terroristas, corruptos y enemigos de la democracia. Judge Baltasar Garzón has pursued justice in a brave, consistent manner for twenty years in the Audiencia Nacional, which is committed to the defense of human rights against dictators, terrorists, corrupt persons and enemies of democracy in Spain and the world.

El juez Baltasar Garzón ha sido uno de los principales promotores del desarrollo en España del principio de Justicia Universal. Judge Baltasar Garzón has been one of the primary proponents in Spain of the principle of Universal Jurisdiction.

El juez Baltasar Garzón es víctima de una campaña promovida por sectores de extrema derecha, Falange Española y Manos Limpias, con una sorprendente connivencia de algunos sectores progresistas. Judge Baltasar Garzón is the victim of a campaign put forth by factions of the extreme right, Spanish Phalangist Party and Manos Limpias [an ultra-right "sindicato," whose name translates as "Clean Hands"], with a surprising complicity among some progressive sectors.

El proceso contra el juez Baltasar Garzón es en realidad un juicio sumario contra los defensores de la Democracia, la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos y a favor de la impunidad de crímenes muy graves de carácter internacional. The action taken against Judge Baltasar Garzón is in actuality a summary judgment against the defenders of Democracy, Justice and Human Rights, one that encourages the impunity of serious international crimes.*

El juez Baltasar Garzón está siendo juzgado por una sala del Tribunal Supremo en la que la mayoría de sus miembros juraron lealtad al Movimiento Nacional del franquismo. Judge Baltasar Garzón is being judged by a tribunal of the Supreme Court, the majority of whose members made an oath of loyalty to the National Movement of Francoism.

Una sentencia adversa al juez Baltasar Garzón, tras agotar las instancias judiciales españolas, acabaría probablemente con una superior sentencia condenatoria del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos contra el Estado español. A sentence in opposition to Judge Baltasar Garzón, upon exhausting all appeals of the Spanish courts, would most likely end with Spain being censured by the European Tribunal of Human Rights.

El juez Baltasar Garzón representa el modelo de justicia basado en la defensa de los Derechos Humanos conforme con su Derecho Internacional que millones de ciudadanos y víctimas reclaman en todo el mundo. Judge Baltasar Garzón represents a justice model based on the defense of Human Rights in accordance with International Law that millions of citizens and victims demand the world over.

Ya en 2008 el Comité de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas recomendó al Estado español la derogación de la preconstitucional Ley de Amnistía de 1977. In 2008, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights recommended that Spain repeal its preconstitutional Amnesty Law of 1977.

Este caso vuelve a demostrar la necesidad de la Justicia Internacional. Incluso España, el país que intentó procesar al dictador Pinochet, es incapaz de juzgar su propia dictadura. Y quien lo intenta, es juzgado por ello. This case again demonstrates the need for Universal Jurisdiction. Even Spain, the country that sought to prosecute dictator Pinochet, is incapable of judging its own dictatorship. He who attempts to do so, is in turn judged for it.

FIRMA EN LA PESTAÑA COMENTARIOS. Deja tu nombre y profesión y/o el nombre de la organización a la que representas. PLEASE SIGN IN THE "COMMENTS" BLANK. Leave your name, profession and/or the name of the organization you represent.

No se publicaran textos que no sean adhesiones al manifiesto. Comments that do not support the manifesto will not be published.

*the phrase "juicio sumario" brings with it for me the notion of a "kangaroo court"

For more on this story in English, please see the following:

"Spain's Super-Judge Closer to Being Charged" (NYT, via AP)

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón Could Go on Trial

I am feeling quite fired up about the case that follows. So fired up, in fact, that I wrote the following, in English, on my Spanish blog:

Today the Spanish memorialist blogosphere has been on fire with the news that Judge Baltasar Garzón is most likely headed to the Tribunal Supremo (TS), or Spanish Supreme Court, to face charges that he knowingly acted beyond his legal capacities when he spearheaded a criminal and judicial investigation into the crimes of Francoism. While I do not profess a mastery of the Spanish court system, by following the Garzón case closely in the Spanish and international press, I have been able to condense the story to the following points, which I have laid out in a more-or-less chronological fashion here:

1. Garzón was the first to open a penal cause about, and to use the phrase "crimes against humanity" in relation to, the crimes of the Franco repression.
   
2. Garzón's October 2008 "auto," prepared with the help of countless, faceless family members, historians, forensic anthropologists and others, contained the names -- not estimates, names - of 114, 266 victims of the Franco repression.
   
3. Garzón requested death records from Church and State - I am unclear about whether any were ever turned over to him.
   
4. After complaints he was out of bounds and in direct opposition to the 1977 Ley de Amnistía (Amnesty Law), Garzón dropped the case, essentially turning the task over to regional government authorities (November 2008).
   
5. Several ultra-right wing groups (Manos Limpias, FE de las JONS) filed "complaints" in the Supreme Court over Garzón's alleged breach of the law.
6. The Court refused to dismiss the claims made by the above groups. Incidentally, there are several personal and political conflicts of interest between Supreme Court justices and Baltasar Garzón. As an example, in one case, we are talking about a judge who signed a petition against the 2007 Law of Historical Memory.
   

A number of influential scholars have begun to suggest that we are witnessing the beginning of the end for Garzón. We could be, they say, just days away from watching Garzón himself go on trial. If this is the case, it is a shameful moment for the Spanish judicial system. A shameful moment when, rather than focusing our attention on the original case at hand, we must instead anticipate the case brought against this judge. It is sad, it is perverse, it is astounding, that it has come to this point. Judge Garzón's "auto" was a powerful, visible, necessary condemnation of what Antonio Elorza, Paul Preston and respected scholars like them have called the "Spanish genocide." If not Garzón to pursue this cause, then who? Clearly, the judge's investigation was necessary in light of the failures of the Law of Historical Memory and the unfinished business of Spain's own "don't ask, don't tell" transitional-era politics.

Whether we like it or not, Baltasar Garzón is the closest thing Spain has to the face of justice. If he goes on trial, the charge will technically be "prevarication" -- an instance of deliberate over-reaching of jurisdiction. Yet what ought to be clear to everyone observing this case is that the unspoken issue on trial here will really be Garzón's decision to pursue crimes of the Francoist repression as "crimes against humanity." Garzón's "auto" -- much more severe and damning than the documents that evolved into the Law of Historical Memory -- means, for some, not just a vague sort of "questioning of the past" or staining of an inheritance. The auto marks a contestation of the entire transitional process and those charged with writing it. The elephant in the room is no longer the decades-long silence about Franco-era crimes; what Garzón messed with is the foundation on which Spain's young democracy lies.

Note: please stay tuned for further discussion of this case. If you are unfamiliar with Judge Garzón, he is perhaps most noted for his persecution of Augusto Pinochet in London in 1998. BG is known as a bit of a judicial "diva" -- in Spanish, he is called "el juez estrella," or star judge. However, does this persona really matter when we are talking about the sort of grave issues Garzón has tackled?

Recommended reading: Daniel Rothenberg's interview with Judge Garzón, "Let Justice Judge" and the NYT page of news about BG