Spanish civil war bereaved rally in support of investigating judge

Brandishing black and white photographs of dead parents, scores of angry Spaniards rallied to condemn the High Court for putting on trial the judge who tried to inv-estigate their relatives’ fates.

As Judge Baltasar Garzon appeared in the Supreme Court in Madrid, protesters outside yelled in indignation that he was being pros-ecuted while thousands of victims and their killers remain unidentified.

Some unfurled a 10-metre long banner of skeletons in a mass grave: one of 2,000 which campaigners say contain the remains of civilians murdered during the 1936-1939 civil war and the four decades of dictatorship that followed.

“This is my father, shot for being a republican,” said one man, Gregorio, holding a black and white picture of the young victim next to his name, Esteban Alvarez, killed in 1936 in the central province of Guadalajara.

“I was three. He is still in a mass grave,” Gregorio said, raising his voice as he paced angrily behind a police barrier outside the court. “I want them to say sorry for murdering my father.”

Inside the court, Garzon took the stand, accused of abusing his powers for trying to investigate the disappearances of 114,000 people between 1936 and 1951, during the war and the dictatorship under Francisco Franco.

Garzon’s accusers say his attempted probe breached an amnesty that was agreed in 1977, two years after Franco’s death, as Spain moved towards democracy — a process known simply as the “transition”.

Yesterday’s protesters branded the trial an injustice to Garzon and to victims’ families and denounced it as a sign of partiality in the judiciary, as they rallied and marched around the Supreme Court with flags and megaphones.

Some waved signs reading: “Corrupt fascists are judging the judge.”

“Supreme court, supreme impunity,” the crowd yelled.

“The transition did not reach the justice system,” said another protester, Gregorio Hernando, 72. “After all these years it still hasn’t changed at all. This is harassment. It is injustice. He is a good judge.”

The case could end the career of the world-renowned human rights prosecutor, but serves more broadly as a reminder of how Franco’s legacy continues to divide Spaniards 37 years after the dictator’s death.

“This is a shameful situation,” said another protester, also called Gregorio, 66, who would not give his second name.

“The ones that died fighting on the other side [for Franco] have all been identified,” he said. “Those who were defending liberty and the republic haven’t.”

Garzon, 56, backed by several international human rights groups, argues that the mass-killings and disappearances of the Franco era were crimes against humanity and therefore not subject to any amnesty or statute of limitations.

The trial is expected to last for at least a month.

Spaniards are highly divided over Garzon — he has rock star status among rights groups but conservatives deride him as being more interested in fame than in justice.

Yesterday’s session was taken up by procedural motions filed by Garzon’s lawyer. The trial was then adjourned until Jan 31, when Garzon is scheduled to testify.