You probably have read something about spanish super-judge Baltasar Garz贸n. A hero for the victims of dictatorships, he tried to extradite Augusto Pinochet in 1998 to put him on trial for several crimes against humanity like genocide, conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, hostage taking and torture.
Last year it was him the one put on trial over accusations of abusing power in a case related with bribery and corruption in the Spanish Government. Meanwhile he was also conducting an investigation about the victims of the francoist dictatorship investigating, you guessed it, several crimes against humanity like genocide, conspiracy to murder, kidnapping, hostage taking and torture.
You can read all of this on the judge’s profiles in The New York Times, The Guardian and Wikipedia.
What you won’t find in those profiles is the fact that back in 1992 Garz贸n didn’t investigate the allegations of tortures made by a group of young Catalan separatists.
You won’t find it in Wikipedia. You won’t find it in mass media profiles. You won’t find it in the Spanish Justice Ministry website where they list the cases against Spain.
This lack of investigation constitutes a violation of Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as was ruled by the European Court of Human Rights in 2004.
So next time you hear about Garz贸n, keep this in mind. The super judge is not against tortures, and coaction of human rights when he is the one taking profit of them.