The New Totalitarian Temptation by Todd Huizinga

Author:Todd Huizinga
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594037900
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 2016-01-20T05:00:00+00:00

THE SPANISH JUDGE AND THE CHILEAN DICTATOR

Not surprisingly, universal jurisdiction has made the most headway in Europe. In fact, a single Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, played a huge role not only in making universal jurisdiction a compelling idea for many – the idea of making the powerful answer for their crimes against the oppressed and powerless – but also in coming close to actually exercising jurisdiction against the former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, who had committed his alleged crimes in Chile, not in Spain (where Garzón was an investigating magistrate), and mostly against Chileans, not against Spaniards. Garzón was primarily concerned with Pinochet’s role in Operation Condor, in which various South American security services worked together in an effort to eliminate leftist political opposition.3 As the former president and commander in chief and as “senator for life,” Pinochet enjoyed immunity under Chilean law, but when he traveled to Britain in 1998 for medical treatment, Garzón issued an international arrest warrant and requested his extradition to Spain.

For seventeen months, UK authorities held Pinochet under house arrest until the House of Lords finally ruled that he could be extradited to Spain (though the ruling was not made on the basis of universal jurisdiction). Jack Straw, then Britain’s secretary of state for home affairs, chose a diplomatic solution, concluding that Pinochet was medically unfit for trial and allowing him to return to Chile. Significantly, though, Straw made a point of bowing deferentially to the supranational soft utopia, expressing his belief that “universal jurisdiction against persons charged with international crimes should be effective.” It is also telling that in releasing Pinochet, Britain declined to accept extradition requests similar to Spain’s from three other European countries – France, Belgium and Switzerland.4

After the Pinochet affair, Garzón did not waver in his quest to revive the legacy of Don Quixote in modern-day Spain. He also investigated, and in some cases indicted, many others who he believed might otherwise have escaped with impunity for human rights abuses they allegedly committed. His targets have included U.S. officials for alleged abuses in Guantanamo, Argentine officials for crimes committed during Argentina’s Dirty War, and Osama bin Laden. Turning the tables, four charges have been filed against Garzón in recent years, for abuse or improper use of his authority. Garzón, who claims the complaints were bogus and politically motivated, was convicted on one of the charges and suspended from practicing as a judge for eleven years.

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