There’s a common belief in Romania that while most countries tend to offer various degrees of justice (for whatever reasons) to victims of past crimes up to a reasonable limit, it’s only Romanian law that results in outstanding aberrations on a wide scale.
Such is the case of sweeping under the rug the crimes of the 1989 anticommunist Revolution, the crimes of the communist regime itself as well as those of the neo-communist regime (like the miners’ invasion of Bucharest).
Spain however managed to equal and surpass the neo-communist regime of Romania and its lack of justice. Such completion was achieved by not covering up crimes and thousands of kidnappings and cases of torture, but also by overtly accusing a judge of … trying to solve said cases! Sure, in Romania judges are bribed, threatened and there’s a lot of pressure on the good ones but never before have we seen a judge sent to jail for the sole guilt of trying to solve a case.
Such is the situation of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon . Judge Garzon is a well known judge specialized in human rights cases, most famous for being the negotiator that obtained the arrest of former dictator Augusto Pinochet in London and for being the second judge to issue an international warrant for the apprehension of Osama bin Laden.
The charges brought against him are that of violating a general amnesty offered for the crimes perpetrated during the fascist regime of Francisco Franco. However, this law has been under constant attack by human rights organisations ever since its inception and subsequent Spanish legislation regarding human rights is considered to supersede the amnesty, as Spain currently offers a great deal of power to human rights abuse investigations.
Despite widespread support especially from the part of families of victims, judge Garzon is the target of resentment from colleagues due to his popularity and his well-paid human rights speeches.
