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| News about the Spanish judge who wants to trial American soldiers | |
| 2005-06-17 | |
Judge Pedraz, ie the guy who wants to trial American soldiers involved in the death of a Spanish journalist at the Palestine Hotel during the last stages of OIF Now he is allowing ETA terrorist De Juana Chaos to walk free (but Spanish DA is appealing). De Juana Chaos had been sentenced to three thousand years for many, many, many acts of terrorism. He has purged eighteen. But by using some pitfalls of Spanish law like the top on a penalty and discounting for having taken univeristy courses De Juana Chaos has been able to ask for liberation. Except that it appears that several of the term reducing steps of De Juana Chaos never existed. And except that while in jail he has continued activities for ETA thus voiding the effect of whatever term reducing activities he performed while in jail. And De Juana Chaos is no ordinary terrorist: after the assasination of a young man and his wife (leaving two small daughters) he said: "I like to see the pain-difformed faces of the family", he is a fervent partisan of an alliance between ETA and the islamists, and a partisan of ETA causing a big bombing, one with hundreds or even thousands of victims. Several failed attempts those last years. This is the guy, judge Pedraz, wants and when say wants I do not mean because the law ties his hands, it doesn't, but because he likes the idea. It says a LOT about that judge who wants to trial American soldiers. (1) The journalist himself commented on TV, just hours before his death, that the hotel was being used by Baathist officials and armed elements. That made it a legitimate target. And according to Geneva it was the duty of the journalists to evacuate the hotel if at all possible instead of, by their presence, interfering in retaliatory fire by Americans against any attack or artillery spotting from the hotel Note on Spanish, French and possibly most European judiciaries. In European countries the people has no say direct and indirect (ie nominated by President and validated by Senate) over judges nominations. Judges cannot be removed by the political power suposedly to preserve their independence. I will pass on the indirect ways for influencing them. The interesting point is that French and Spanish judges become judges by passing an exam on law. The N best performers (N being fixed by the budgetary needs) enter a special school for judges but graduation from this school is automatic or nearly automatic (you rellay need to spend your scholarity being drunk for n,ot graduating) if you have entered it. Once there the candidates are under the supervision of professors and senior judges but they don't have the power of expelling a candidate for being a complete moonbat (that would be, shock horror, political) just giving him bad eveluations who would force him to take an unapalatable post in a god forsaken town when he leaves academy instead of the prestigious ones leading to Supreme Court (in French system the best pupil picks first, then the second and so on). It is also of interest to know that appliants to Judge school are young and unfiltered (they are graduates in law not senior lawyers) be it about opinions or about experience of their acting. So a guy becomes judge without the people having a say on his nomination and then he cannot be removed by the people whatever shocking are his decisions: he is above the people. And even above the law, since he will not be sanctionned if his decisions are not conformant (they will be reverted by a higher court but he will not be punished for it) and even if he does something illegal (like filtering elements of the case to the press thus vilating the presumption of innocence) the sanctions are usualy limited to the judge being displaced to a more unpalatable town. European democracy in action. | |
| Posted by:JFM |
| #1 I could link but the news are in Spanish. Comment is mine but I considered it was not strictly opinion. |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-06-17 17:57 |