Former Judge Baltasar Garzón. Emilio Naranjo (EFE)
The UN Human Rights Committee ruled in August 2021 that the verdict against National Court judge Baltasar Garzón for wiretapping the belt case, for which he was disqualified and removed from the judiciary, was “arbitrary”; that his activity “did not constitute serious conduct or incompetence capable of justifying his criminal conviction, which could result in the permanent loss of his position” and that Spain should therefore erase its criminal record, “compensate” the judge and take measures to ensure that nothing similar happens would happen again. Two years later, the committee has assessed the level of compliance with its recommendations and, in its most recent report, reiterated that the Spanish authorities have not taken any action to grant Garzón the “full reparation” that they believe he deserves for the damage caused.
The report contains the Spanish state’s response to its recommendations. He explains that, according to the Spanish authorities, Garzón has not claimed any right to have his criminal record erased or to receive compensation for the damage suffered. Responding to the Human Rights Committee’s call for action to be taken to prevent this situation from recurring in the future – the committee considered that there were “objectively justifiable” doubts about the “impartiality” of the court that sentenced him the Spanish State that the current legislation on monitoring communications between lawyers and their clients is correct and that Garzón had a procedure with all the guarantees.
The law firm of Garzón’s lawyer Helen Duffy denounces that Spain “blatantly disregards the authority of the Human Rights Committee and the binding international obligations it has under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”. In its 2021 opinion, the panel considered that the Supreme Court violated Article 14.1 of the said pact, ratified by Spain in 1977, and did not respect Garzón’s right to a trial “with adequate safeguards by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal”. have. The former National Court of Justice judge appealed to this UN body in January 2016 after being sentenced to 11 years of disability for ordering the wiretapping of the Belt case involving numerous PP officials. In the statement, in which the committee called for “full redress” for Garzón, he recalled that other judges had taken similar action and had not been penalized for it.
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