Politics

Crusading human rights judge Baltasar Garzon goes on trial on Tuesday over his divisive attempt to investigate 114,000 disappearances during Spain's Civil War and the subsequent right-wing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

Relatives of victims of Franco, human rights observers and international jurists will gather at Spain's Supreme Court to protest the trial, which they say is an attempt to deny justice for "crimes against humanity".

The charges against Garzon were brought by right-wing organisations Clean Hands and Liberty and Identity, who allege Garzon violated a 1977 amnesty law by probing the Franco era, which stretched from 1939 to 1975.

Garzon, 56, was hugely admired in Spain for his investigations of ETA, and for his human rights probes in South America, but he alienated many when he revisited Francoism, a recent dark period of Spanish history.

Garzon faces three trials -- all brought by private parties, not by the state prosecutor -- linked to his investigations into human rights abuses, corruption and other offences. One case, involving accusations of illegally taping defendants and their lawyers, was heard last week and the verdict is pending.

If convicted at any of the trials, Garzon could be banned from serving as a judge for up to 20 years and a comeback would be difficult.

In the case that opens this week, international legal experts have rallied to the defence of Garzon, who is best-known for ordering the London arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998.

"The charges should be thrown out, this is a real scandal," Amnesty International lawyer Hugo Relva told Reuters.

"How is it possible that this country is full of mass graves and no one is worried about it? In any other country, El Salvador, Argentina, Uruguay or Peru, when they find a mass grave from times of political violence by the state they intervene immediately, putting money up to...indemnise victims."

After the Republicans were defeated in the 1936-1939 Civil War, for decades people around Spain were too scared to talk about atrocities they knew had been perpetrated by Franco's regime in their towns and villages. To this day there are mass graves that have not been dug up.

Garzon's huge Franco investigation started in 2008 was dropped in its original form -- some say under pressure from the then Socialist government. He urged regional courts to carry on and help the relatives of Franco victims who wanted to recover remains from mass graves and give them a decent burial.

Amnesty versus international law

In the most sensitive of the cases against Garzon, the prosecution will argue he breached the amnesty law that was put in place to pardon crimes committed during the Franco regime and to unite a once-divided Spain.

But the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists is calling for Garzon's acquittal, saying the 1977 amnesty must be set aside to respect international law.

In a joint statement with other associations including the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the jurists said a guilty verdict would amount to impunity for dictators. "Alternatively (a not-guilty verdict) could finally clear a path for the country to begin a new era of justice for victims of past crimes never before investigated by the Spanish justice system," said the group.

Some 20 associations of people who believe Franco's forces murdered their relatives will give evidence in Garzon's defence at the trial.

With pre-trial questions scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a court recess, Garzon will not testify until Jan. 31.

The "Garzon case" has divided Spain with some media and lawyers arguing the judge is in the dock for abusing his powers as an investigating magistrate, possibly because his
international human rights fame has gone to his head. "Garzon's problem...lies in his excesses, ... driven by his uncontrolled desire for notoriety," wrote Manuel Martin in
conservative newspaper ABC.

Others believe the judge is facing a political vendetta because he defied a collective amnesia protecting Franco's supporters.