THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Spain's Supreme Court convicted judge Baltasar Garzon on Thursday in an illegal wiretapping case, ending the judicial career of a man who won world renown for pursuing human rights abuses and Augusto Pinochet's arrest.
"We condemn the accused, Baltasar Garzon, as the author of the crime of abusing his authority ... to 11 years' suspension from his duty as judge or magistrate," the court's ruling read.
Garzon, 56, who found international fame for trying to extradite Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, was found guilty of ordering illegal recordings of corruption suspects talking to their lawyers.
The suspension effectively ends Garzon's career as a judge.
He is also awaiting judgment in a second trial for trying to investigate atrocities of the Franco era, in an alleged breach of an amnesty.
Garzon's defenders say both trials are politically motivated bids to stop him prosecuting crimes committed during Spain's 1936-1939 Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. » | Source: AFP | Thursday, February 09, 2012
