Judge Garzón gets judged

Baltazar Garzón “will be tried for the 'Gürtel affair' before the corruption trials themselves,” leads the Spanish daily El País, following the decision by the Spanish Supreme Court to proceed against the former judge heading the anti-corruption inquiries. Garzón is accused of “prevarication” (abuse of power) and of having used “illegal methods” in his investigation into the “Gürtel” affair, a political and financial scandal involving officials of the Popular Party (PP - right-wing opposition). These methods include wiretapping conversations between some defendants and their lawyers, in violation of their rights. The decision of the court is “most opportune” for the President of the Valencia region, Francisco Camps (PP), whose trial is to commence in the coming weeks, and just a few weeks before the municipal elections of May 22, El País notes. The conservative El Mundo, which accuses Garzón of having shown a “total disregard for the law to achieve his goals throughout his career,” points out that “Garzón the cheater endangers the Gürtel investigation itself”: “through his lack of scruples, he has opened up a legal avenue of escape that may let the accused evade justice."