Spain's torture probe kept alive by judge BY RAW STORY
http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/17/spains-torture-probe-all-but-doomed/ UPDATE AT BOTTOM: SPANISH JUDGE MOVES TO KEEP CASE ALIVE A day after memos were released detailing even more "harsh interrogation" practices authorized by the Bush Administration, Spanish prosecutors signaled that the country's proposed torture probe was "all but doomed." "Spanish prosecutors on Friday formally recommended against an investigation into allegations that six senior Bush administration officials gave legal cover for the torture of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay," the Associated Press reports. The AP notes, "While their ruling is not binding, the announcement all but dooms prospects for the case against the men going forward." The Bush Administration Office of Legal Counsel authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to put insects inside a confinement box as part of the Administration's "harsh interrogation" practice, as well as throwing detainees into walls, according to memos released by President Barack Obama on Thursday. Yesterday, Spain's Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido told reporters that the case was without merit because the officials were not present when the alleged torture took place and that a trial would turn Spain's National Court into "a plaything" for political ends. The intention had been to target six officials whose advice and legal opinions cleared the way for the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay: former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, former vice presidential chief of staff David Addington, Justice Department officials John Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes. "If one is dealing with a crime of mistreatment of prisoners of war, the complaint should go against those who physically carried it out," Conde-Pumpido stated. "If there is a reason to file a complaint against these people, it should be done before local courts with jurisdiction, in other words in the United States." More from Friday's AP report: Prosecutors said any such investigation ought to be conducted in the United States, not Spain. They also questioned the idea of bringing charges against lawyers and presidential advisers who neither carried out the alleged torture themselves, nor were ultimately responsible for ordering it. The prosecutors wrote that going after lawyers who wrote nonbinding recommendations for the president and his senior staff, rather than targeting higher-ranking officials who authorized the alleged torture, "raises important problems from a legal standpoint." It also questioned the appropriateness of a case that would effectively put on trial "all of the policies of the past U.S. administration (as reproachable as they may be)," saying such an endeavor was beyond the scope of the Spanish legal system. SPANISH JUDGE MOVES TO KEEP CASE ALIVE After a surprise move Thursday, the Spanish probe appears to still have life. CNN reports, A Spanish judge moved Friday to keep alive an investigation into six former Bush administration officials for alleged torture of prisoners at the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Cuba. He acted just hours after prosecutors urged the case to be dropped, according to a court document. Reuters adds, A Spanish judge considering possible criminal action against six former Bush administration officials for torture at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay defied pressure to drop the case on Friday. But Judge Baltasar Garzon, internationally known for trying to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, accepted that he might not personally take charge of any eventual criminal investigation into officials including former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The Reuters report continues, "In a ruling on Friday, Garzon ignored this advice but also avoided a direct confrontation with the attorney general's office by submitting the case to a lottery system which will now assign it at random to one of the six high court judges." "Let it be assigned to the corresponding court," Garzon's ruling stated. "The judge who gets the case will now have to decide whether to go ahead of it," the Reuters article continues. "Under the system, Garzon will have a one in six chance of getting the case back." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
