Spain’s embattled top anit-terror judge testifies before Supreme Court in 2nd investigation

Embattled Spanish judge testifies to Supreme Court

MADRID — Spain’s most prominent judge, already charged with abuse of power, went before the Supreme Court on Thursday to give testimony as a suspect in a separate investigation that has added to his legal woes.

Judge Baltasar Garzon — internationally known for having gone after former Chilean ruler Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden in Spain’s court system — faces suspension from his post as investigative magistrate for the National Court.

That is because the Supreme Court indicted him on charges of overstepping his power in investigating the executions and disappearances of tens of thousands of civilians by rightist forces loyal to Gen. Francisco Franco during and after Spain’s 1936-39 Civil War. The crimes were covered by an amnesty decreed in 1977.

The case, stemming from a complaint filed by far-right groups, has raised a political storm in Spain with almost daily protests outside the National Court in the magistrate’s favor.

On Thursday, a handful of people shouted “innocent, innocent” as Garzon walked the some 200 yards (meters) separating the National Court from the Supreme Court in downtown Madrid.

His latest appearance was in connection with a probe of money that a Spanish bank paid to finance seminars Garzon directed while on sabbatical at New York University in 2005-2006.

Two lawyers, Antonio Panea and Jose Luis Mazon, accuse him of perverting the course of justice and bribery. During his stay in New York, Banco Santander provided $300,000 for Garzon to organize seminars on human rights. Five months after returning to Madrid and resuming his post, Garzon shelved a tax fraud case filed against the bank’s chairman, Emilio Botin, and other executives.

Garzon denies any wrongdoing, and a letter from New York University presented to the court says Garzon was not the recipient of any of the money Banco Santander paid.

The judge also is being investigated by the Supreme Court in a third case, this one over jailhouse wiretaps he ordered in a corruption probe that has tainted Spain’s conservative opposition Popular Party.