In a powerful decision dated 25 August 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Committee found Spain responsible for violating the rights of our client, former judge of the Spanish national court, Baltasar Garzón. The 18-person expert UN body was unanimous in finding that criminal proceedings against Garzón, based solely on his judicial interpretations, were ‘arbitrary’ and should never have been brought. It also found that the Spanish courts lacked impartiality in his case, the right to appeal was not respected, and the Spanish law under which he was prosecuted did not meet the requirements of legality and foreseeability in criminal law.
Between 2009 y 2012, Judge Garzón was investigated and prosecuted for ‘prevaricacion’ or criminal malfeasance for his judicial decisions in the Franquismo and Gürtel cases. He was first prosecuted for his decision to open an investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity during Franco’s dictatorship, despite a controversial amnesty law, but ultimately acquitted. By that time a second criminal case, for his decision to authorize telephone intercepts in the Gürtel high-level political corruption case, had led to conviction and removal from judicial office. The UNHRC makes clear that Garzón’s judicial decisions were indisputably reasoned, supported by other judges and the Ministerio Publico, and that they had been overturned on appeal (where any alleged error could be corrected). They could not constitute criminal activity, and the prosecution and convictions in this case were inherently arbitrary. The decision fully vindicates the applicant’s long-running complaint against the Spanish state for arbitrarily subjecting him to criminal prosecution for the exercise of his judicial role, in order to remove him from judicial office. It also reasserts the importance of safeguarding judicial independence, the violation of which is epitomised by this case.
Spain must now provide ‘full’ reparation, which includes restoring his judicial position, deleting his criminal record, providing compensation and ensuring that such an affront to judicial independence cannot happen again.
Helen Duffy, HRiP, had the honour of representing Baltasar Garzón before the UNHRC. The case was filed on 31 January 2016. Our press statement in English and Spanish are here.
The full decision of the UNHRC is available (in Spanish) here.