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Baltasar Garzón became a provincial judge at 23, and joined the National Court at age 32. Garzón is one of six investigating judges for Spain's National Court. His function is to investigate the cases that are assigned to him by the court, gathering evidence and evaluating whether the case should be brought to trial. He does not try the cases himself.
In 1993, Garzón took leave of absence to run for a seat in Spanish parliament on the socialist ticket. Garzón, whose piping voice belies his thick-shouldered build, turned out to be a poor public speaker, but his support proved useful for the socialists. Garzón won a seat, but it soon became obvious that the embattled socialist party had taken him on board mainly as window dressing, and he quit politics and returned to his former post a year after the election, perhaps disillusioned at the socialists' failure to implement promised reforms, although according to some reports he was miffed because he was not chosen for Justice Minister.
As investigating magistrate he has been in charge of some of Spain's high-profile cases, involving drug trafficking, corruption in high places, the Basque terrorist group ETA, and the GAL, the shady hit-squad set up by officials within the government to fight a dirty war against the Basque separatists.
Garzón rose to prominence as an international figure with his indictment of leaders of the former Chilean military junta, including the ailing Pinochet, on charges of genocide, terrorism and torture during the 1976-1983 dictatorship, following an investigation assigned to him by Spain's National Court. He issued an international arrest warrant when he learned that Pinochet was in London for a medical check-up. British police arrested Pinochet in October 1998.
