An Int'l Hero like Assange: Garzón

The Spanish judge who pushed to get George Bush's administration prosecuted for torture now climbs another perilous peak: defend Wikileaks' Julian Assange.

Garzón was the judge whose prosecution of Chilean dictator Pinochet led to the torturer's arrest in Britain in 1998. From Spain, Garzón boldly spearheaded criminal proceedings against six senior officials in the Bush administration for the use of torture against detainees in Gitmo/Guantánamo Bay. Obama obstructed the process and derailed that torture lawsuit.

He is vilified by those who assert that Garzon didn't do enough for Basque separatists possibly being tortured by Spanish law enforcement. The separatists are "blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a five-decade campaign of shootings and bombings for an independent Basque homeland."

Now Garzón is head of the legal team protesting Assange's illegal detention in the Equadoran Embassy in London. Assange is targeted for publishing the leaks of government whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and possibly Seth Rich.

"Baltasar Garzón, 58, is an analogue man, barely speaks English, is bad with computers. But he is defending in this case freedom of press but also fundamental human rights. ...[versus]

• the growing influence of intelligence services [CIA etc],
• the lack of transparency, 
• the role of the mass media and the difficult balance of individual rights and state security."

Besides being Spains's leading counter-terrorism judge, Garzón also pursued corruption cases in his own government and other organized crime. He was expelled from the judiciary on the charge of illegal wiretapping. Yeah, you betcha.

#FreeJulian

The author VC Bestor is Director of the non-profit FangedWilds.org, a project encouraging women to engage constructively with apex predators.
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