The news that Julian Assange has requested the services of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón to represent him as he seeks political asylum in Ecuador was unexpected, but the teaming up of these two men does, in a way, make perfect sense. Wikileaks founder Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June. He hopes to be given refuge by the South American country and avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges and, he claims, the possibility of being handed over to the United States to face accusations of espionage. Assange is a globetrotting maverick who has uncovered corruption and abuse and claims to have been framed by trumped-up legal … [Read more...] about Assange and Garzón: what took them so long?
magistrate
Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?
On Monday May 24, judge Baltasar Garzón began a seven-month stint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The move came 10 days after an emotional farewell from the Spanish High Court, where for the last 22 years he has presided over some of the country’s most infamous cases. He was suspended from his duties in Madrid after his nemesis, Luciano Varela, the presiding Supreme Court judge whose enmity toward Garzón is no secret, hastily brought forward trial proceedings into allegations that the magistrate had overstepped his authority by investigating the crimes of the Franco era. Varela’s decision was widely seen as a deliberate move to humiliate Garzón by preventing … [Read more...] about Baltasar Garzón: a judge too far?