Portal:Spain/Selected biography/17
Baltasar Garzón Real (born October 26, 1955 in Torres, Jaén, Spain) is a prominent judge (investigating magistrate) of Spain. Garzón currently sits on Spain's second highest criminal court, Sala 5 of the Audiencia Nacional). Garzón is known in Spain as "Super Judge" or "Judge-Star."
Garzón rose to international prominence on October 10, 1998 for his issuance of an arrest warrant for former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet over the deaths and torture of Spanish citizens during Pinochet's regime, using the Chilean Truth Commission (1990–91) report as the basis for the warrant. He has repeatedly expressed a desire to investigate former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in connection with a plot in the 1970s known as Operation Condor. Garzón also opened the gates to charges of genocide being filed in Spain against Argentine military officers of genocide on the disappearance of Spanish citizens during Argentina's 1976–1983 dictatorship. In April 2001, he requested that the Council of Europe remove the immunity from prosecution enjoyed by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of as a member of the Council's parliamentary assembly.