1 of 3 plaintiffs trying to take down Judge Baltasar Garzon removed

[ck4829]

A Spanish magistrate trying high-profile judge Baltasar Garzon over his probe into Franco-era abuses barred Friday a far-right party from the trial, dismissing its complaints.

The facist Falange party was one of three far-right groups that had levelled charges against Gazon that prompted Supreme Court judge Luciano Varela to put him on trial, a decision condemned by rights groups.

Varela's exlcusion of the Falange means the trial could only go ahead if the judge accepts the charges from the two other complainants, media said.

A member of the Falange Espanola de las Jons, confirmed to AFP it had been excluded from court.

Garzon made world headlines in October 1998 when he ordered the arrest of Chile's former strongman Augusto Pinochet in London, under the principle of "universal jurisdiction" which held that heinous crimes like torture or terrorism can be tried in Spain even if they had no link to the country.

Garzon also indicted Osama bin Laden in 2003 for the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and looked into the deaths of Spaniards in Argentina during the military regime of 1976-83 (And had got several of these figures sentenced to over a thousand years in prison).

http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/far-right-party-barred-from-trial-of-spanish-judge_62221.html

1 down, 2 to go.