Spanish Supreme Court throws out appeal, removing last obstacle for trial of judge Garzon

Spain clears way for super-judge’s trial

MADRID — Spain’s Supreme Court has removed the last potential obstacle to putting on trial the crusading judge who indicted Augusto Pinochet and Osama bin Laden.

Judge Baltasar Garzon, who became world famous with cross-border justice cases, faces charges of knowingly overstepping his jurisdiction by launching a probe of Spanish Civil War atrocities that were covered by an amnesty. He could be suspended from his post on Friday.

The Supreme Court judge who indicted him last month, Luciano Varela, issued a ruling Wednesday that rejected an appeal by prosecutors on procedural grounds.

The prosecutors actually oppose trying Garzon. His indictment stems from a complaint that were filed by two civil groups and accepted by Varela.

An official with a judicial oversight board, the General Council of the Judiciary, said Garzon’s trial might start in two to three months, or perhaps as late as September.

On Tuesday, Garzon asked for a leave of absence to accept a job offer at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

That was initially seen as a possible way for him to avoid being suspended from his post as an investigating magistrate at Spain’s National Court.

But a subcomittee of the oversight board said it will hold a full session Friday to decide whether to suspend Garzon. It will not rule on his request for a leave of absence until it receives reports it has requested from the court in The Hague and from the Spanish Foreign Ministry.

Garzon’s lawyer, Gonzalo Martinez-Fresneda, has said a suspension would effectively end Garzon’s career, regardless of the verdict in his trial.

Garzon, 54, was charged last month with knowingly overstepping the bounds of his jurisdiction by launching in 2008 a probe of the execution or disappearance of more than 100,000 civilians at the hands of supporters of Gen. Francisco Franco during the 1936-39 war and in the early years of the Franco dictatorship.

Garzon denies any wrongdoing and says his probe was legitimate. If convicted, he faces removal from the National Court for up to 20 years.

Garzon is under investigation in two other cases as well: one involving money that a Spanish bank paid to sponsor human rights seminars he gave while on sabbatical in New York a few years ago, and another in connection with jailhouse wiretaps he ordered as part of a corruption probe.