Spaniards Divided on Conviction of Top Judge

Spain's Supreme Court conviction of internationally renowned rights judge Baltasar Garzon for abuse of power exposed a deep right-left gulf in the country on Friday.

Garzon was widely condemned by conservative newspapers, which welcomed the court's decision to bar him from the judiciary for 11 years, effectively ending his career as a judge.

But other media were outraged by the court decision.

The leading, center-left daily El Pais published a telephone poll of 600 people by Metroscopia, showing 61 percent of respondents thought Garzon was the victim of "persecution".

Only 36 percent believed there was sufficient evidence to try the 56-year-old National Court judge, said the survey, which reported a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.

Garzon, who gained fame by trying to extradite Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet from London in 1998, was found guilty of ordering illegal recordings of corruption suspects talking to their lawyers.

The corruption case implicated some senior members of the conservative Popular Party, which returned to government in December.

Garzon is now awaiting a verdict on a second case, in which he is charged with abuse of power for probing Franco-era atrocities despite a political amnesty.

"Garzon, neutralized," bemoaned an editorial in El Pais, underscoring that the judge had "given important services to society in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime."

It recalled his "outstanding role in applying universal justice to the defense of human rights violated by dictatorships".

"Supreme Shame" decried the left-wing daily Publico.

The right-leaning El Mundo, however, said Garzon had acted "as if he was a judge under Pinochet".

It noted that the Supreme Court's sentence had compared Garzon's actions in ordering the wiretapping with "practices that these days can only be found in totalitarian regimes".

Faced with the acts of the "star judge", the paper said, the sentence served as a reminder that: "The truth cannot be uncovered at any cost."

Conservative daily ABC ran on a similar line. "Garzon disqualified for 11 years over his totalitarian methods," the paper said.

Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia managed to speak to the judge, who told the paper: "They have thrown me out, I am not a judge and I don't know what I am going to do. I have to think about it."