Thousands rally to support Spanish judge

Thousands have rallied in Spain's capital in support of the disbarred judge famous for taking on international human rights cases.

Baltasar Garzon, 56, was convicted on February 9 by the Supreme Court, marking a spectacular fall from grace for the nation's most prominent jurist. The seven-judge panel disbarred him for 11 years, effectively ending Garzon's career unless he can have their decision reversed on appeal.

On Sunday a large square outside the main gates of the Supreme Court filled with around 10,000 people, many carrying placards and banners calling for justice for the former judge and chanting: "Garzon, friend, Spain is with you."

In Thursday's verdict, the court ruled that Garzon acted unlawfully in ordering jailhouse wiretaps of detainees talking to their lawyers, the court said, adding that his actions "these days are only found in totalitarian regimes".

The case was just one of three against Garzon, who is still awaiting a verdict in another trial on charges of initiating a probe in 2008 of rightist atrocities committed during and after the Spanish civil war of 1936-1939 even though the crimes were covered by a 1977 amnesty.

"Garzon, a top judge, is on trial for three different supposed crimes, something unheard of in Spanish legal history," Juan de la Torre, a 47-year-old chemist, said. "Yet, in each separate case it's the same seven judges trying him."

Some banners around the square featured photographs of the judges and said, "Who are the magnificent seven working for?", while others called for the court sentence to be revoked.

Garzon is best known internationally for indicting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998, and trying to put him on trial in Madrid for crimes against humanity.

He also indicted Osama bin Laden in 2003 over the September 11 attacks and oversaw many rulings against Basque separatist group ETA and its political wing, Batasuna.

As a judge at Spain's National Court, Garzon took on cases using the principle of universal jurisdiction - the idea that some crimes are so heinous they can be prosecuted anywhere.

He attempted to apply this legal doctrine to abuses committed in far-flung places such as Rwanda and Tibet.

Garzon was a hero to many left-leaning human rights activists, but was viewed with suspicion by conservative sectors of Spanish society, including many senior judges who saw him as attention-seeking and egotistical.

He was indicted and suspended in 2010, although the state prosecutor has maintained throughout that Garzon had committed no crime.

Garzon faces more legal woes over ties with a big Spanish bank that financed human rights seminars he oversaw while on sabbatical in New York in 2005 and 2006.