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Will a Spanish Judge Prosecute U.S. Officials?

[TIME] Lisa Abend - On March 17, a group of lawyers representing the Association for the Dignity of Prisoners, a Spanish human-rights group, filed a complaint in Spain's National Court against former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, and other officials for violating international law by creating a legal framework that permitted the torture of suspected terrorists. On March 29, Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzon sent the case to the prosecutor's office for review, a step seen as a sign that the judge will soon agree to investigate the case. Spain's National Court is perhaps the world's leading practitioner of universal jurisdiction, a legal principle that holds that in crimes of exceptional gravity, the right to render judgment is not limited to the country where the crime was committed.
2009-04-01 06:00:00
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