Judge Garzón’s Supreme Court appeal falls on deaf ears

Suspended High Court Judge Baltasar Garzón on Friday saw his appeal against a sentence of 11 years’ disbarment rejected by the Supreme Court. Garzón was found guilty of ordering illegal wiretaps of conversations between jailed members of the Gürtel corruption scheme and their lawyers on February 9.

The judge’s appeal was turned down by the same magistrates that handed down the sentence, Joaquín Jiménez, Miguel Colmonero, Luciano Varela and Manuel Marchena, who pursued two separate cases against Garzón. The first was regarding the legality of Garzón’s investigation into Franco-era crimes and the second probed whether the judge had received payment from Banco Santander for giving lectures in New York in return for shelving an investigation into its chief, Emilio Botín.

In its report, the court said Garzón’s conduct in the wiretap case “is completely unacceptable in a democracy,” rejecting his claims that his actions did not constitute a crime.

Garzón had also argued that the court had “preconceived ideas” against him.