Madrid: Spain`s high 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.
"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 gained international attention by trying
to extradite Chile`s former dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998,
was found guilty of ordering illegal recordings of suspects in
a corruption case 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 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
Francisco Franco.
PTI
