Baltasar Garzon
A prior post discussed former Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon’s conviction and suspension for bugging of attorney-client communications. Immediate reactions to this result were discussed in posts on February 10, 11 and 14.
More recently the European Magistrates for Democracy and Freedom called for a pardon of Baltasar Garzon because the organization believes his conviction and sentence affects the entire international judicial community and runs the risk of limiting judicial independence, especially in countries trying to construct a democratic system of justice. Judges must have the freedom to render their own legal interpretations, but the Garzon case could be used to curb judges’ independence and autonomy.
This European organization has 15,000 members from associations of judges and prosecutors from 11 states of the European Union.
Tags: Baltasar Garzon, European Mgistrates for Democracy and Freedom, human rights, Spain
