Word: spain
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...that the Greeks need it? Where are our European fellow men and women, at a time when the oldest nation and culture of the continent needs them most, in order to face down the serious financial and social crisis they are undergoing? Georgios N. Diamantis, BARCELONA, SPAIN...
...Garzón, best known for ordering former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's arrest and extradition for crimes against humanity, was indicted Wednesday by his own country's Supreme Court. Charged with knowingly overreaching his jurisdiction when he opened an investigation into another dictator's crimes - in this case, Spain's Francisco Franco - Garzón has been suspended from his job while he awaits the start of his criminal trial...
...charges against Garzón date to 2008, when, at the request of victims' family members, he opened an investigation into the disappearance of an estimated 114,000 people during Spain's 1936-39 civil war and the early years of the dictatorship that followed. As legal justification for that probe, Garzón characterized the repressive actions of Franco and 34 of his officials as crimes against humanity. In a country where the recent past remains remarkably divisive, that is precisely where he ran into trouble. (See pictures of Spain...
...judge can just jump over the laws of the country," says Miguel Bernad, secretary general of Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), the group that filed the complaint against Garzón for alleged prevarication - or knowingly issuing erroneous judgments. "And in Spain, we have an amnesty law," he adds. Passed by the Spanish parliament in 1977, the amnesty law prevents the prosecution of perpetrators of crimes and their collaborators during the dictatorship, and is at the heart of a so-called "pact of silence" that eased the way for a peaceful transition to democracy...
...case is open to debate. "Numerous sources of international law suggest that amnesties for crimes against humanity are inconsistent with a State's obligations to protect human rights, including the right of access to justice," Carolyn Lamm, president of the American Bar Association, wrote in a public letter to Spain's Attorney General, an opponent of the prosecution. "It is difficult in light of these principles to view [Garzón's] ruling as legally indefensible, or as warranting criminal prosecution." Garzón's lawyer agrees. "The big question is why the Supreme Court isn't satisfied with simply...