San Francisco Chronicle

July 1, 2004, Page B-2

BAY AREA
Crusading Spanish judge hailed as hero for hunting down Pinochet
Garzón criticizes U.S. for relying on force to fight terror

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/01/BAG4S7EM4H1.DTL    

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has wrapped up a week of events in the Bay Area, including a speech at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco and a dinner held in his honor at UC Berkeley's International House.

He received a hero's welcome during his stay by exiles from Chile and other parts of Latin America who have endured human rights abuses at the hands of repressive governments.

"He's the first one to put Pinochet in prison. Now, dictators around the world have to be careful," said Olga Hathaway, a Chilean whose then-husband, David Hathaway, was arrested in Chile in 1973, after the overthrow of leftist President Salvador Allende.

Garzón came to international attention in 1998 when he indicted former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet on an international warrant for torture, genocide and terrorism. Pinochet was in England at the time, and a British judge approved Garzón's request for extradition to Spain. Ultimately, Pinochet was released by British authorities due to poor health -- but the legal process kept him detained for 17 months.

"I feel an incredible gratitude (to the judge) not only for my personal situation, but for all the people who have been victims of tyrants," said Zenaida Velásquez, a Honduran social worker whose brother was kidnapped by the Honduran secret police and who fled to the United States after her own life was threatened

Garzón has also indicted Argentine and Guatemalan military leaders for human rights abuses. More recently, he has taken on al Qaeda, indicting 41 suspects this month for involvement in the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and other terrorist activity planned on Spanish soil.

Garzón, a federal investigative judge who presides over pretrial evidence- gathering and the detention of suspects, not only has pursued ETA, the Basque separatist group in Spain responsible for terrorist attacks, but has indicted members of a semi-official death squad -- including several government officials -- that singled out ETA members. Garzón addressed the World Affairs Council on Tuesday evening on the war on terror and international justice.

In an interview with The Chronicle, he criticized the United States for using military force as the primary tool in fighting terrorism and for stripping prisoners, notably those held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, of their rights.

"Force should be the last resort," he said. "In Europe we're using police and judicial methods, and we have diplomatic and political cooperation between states. And it's producing results. ... We've arrested the authors of the Madrid bombing, and trials are under way."

Holding detainees at Guantanamo without charges or access to counsel violates international law, he said.

"It's pure kidnapping if they won't even say who they're holding," said Garzón, who said he had asked the United States for extradition of three Guantanamo detainees but has not received any response.

He applauded the U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday affirming the legal rights of "enemy combatants," but said it should have happened sooner.

The dinner held in his honor at UC Berkeley's International House was hosted by the Center for Justice and Accountability, a San Francisco group that has successfully sued a number of Latin American military leaders for crimes against humanity.

"The indictment of Augusto Pinochet was a watershed, comparable in significance to the beginning of the Nuremberg Trials (which tried Nazi leaders after World War II)," center Director Sandra Coliver told the audience.

Garzón's use of international law has struck a blow against impunity by establishing "that certain crimes are so heinous that wherever the perpetrator happens to be, that country has the capacity and even the obligation to prosecute or extradite," said Coliver.

Chilean exile Fernando Torres was close to tears as he presented the judge with a medallion in the shape of Central and South America that he had carved from a coin while a political prisoner under Pinochet.

"He's courageous," Torres said afterward of Garzón. "We didn't have hope that justice would be served, and then along comes this judge."

E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.