Law professor comments on disbarring of Spanish judge

Daniel Rothenberg, executive director of the Center for Law and Global Affairs at the College of Law, was recently interviewed on the Australian national radio show, "The World Today." It reported on the disbarring and conviction of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón.

Spanish authorities say that Garzón ordered illegal wiretaps, but his supporters say he is being persecuted by his enemies in the Spanish judicial system. He is also accused of exceeding his authority by ordering an inquiry into the disappearance of more than 100,000 people during the 36 years that General Franco ruled Spain.

“The claim against him on that is that what he is doing is illegal because it violates a blanket amnesty that was passed just after the Franco regime stepped down, and in that case, it seems hard to look at that particular case as not politically motivated,” Rothenberg said.

Rothenberg has more than 15 years of experience combining field research, project management and scholarship on international human rights and the rule of law. His research focuses on human rights documentation and analysis and transitional justice, particularly truth commissions, amnesty laws and reparations. He has designed and managed rule of law projects in Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout Latin America, including programs to train human rights NGOs, aid indigenous peoples in using international legal remedies and collect and analyze thousands of first-person narratives of victims of severe human rights violations.