Garzón questions Zapatero's indictment and calls for regulating former presidents' activities by law

The former judge Baltasar Garzón has criticized the decision of the Audiencia Nacional to indict former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Plus Ultra case, a situation that, in his opinion, has caused an authentic "civil death" for the former head of the Executive and his family environment before the judicial investigation concludes.

During the presentation of his new book, "La democracia amenazada" (Democracy Under Threat), Garzón defended that the resolution is still in the investigation phase and recalled that not even those under investigation have testified. For this reason, he criticized that some sectors have presented the facts as if it were a final judgment.

The former magistrate called for greater prudence in the public treatment of the case and warned that the evidence known so far may be confirmed or discarded as the investigation progresses. "One cannot speak of corruption for now because we do not know what will happen," he maintained.

In this way, Garzón took the opportunity to propose an institutional reform that regulates the activities of former presidents once they leave office. As he explained, it should be clearly established what functions they can perform when acting backed by the public relevance derived from having held the head of government.

Beyond the Zapatero case, the former judge compared the political response to the current scandals affecting the PSOE with the management that, in his opinion, the PP made of the Gürtel plot. He assured that the socialists have taken measures when cases of alleged corruption have appeared, while the popular party never fully assumed the convictions derived from Gürtel.

Garzón also recalled his role as the initial instructor of that case and reproached the Popular Party for continuing to denounce the corruption of its adversaries without recognizing, he said, its own responsibilities accredited by the courts. "Assume your own too," he demanded.

In political terms, he described Alberto Núñez Feijóo's movements to explore a possible motion of no confidence against Pedro Sánchez as "pure appearance." In his opinion, there is no viable alternative majority and the popular leader's strategy responds more to a political game than to a real possibility of government change.

Finally, Garzón showed his concern about a hypothetical Executive formed by PP and Vox after the next general elections. He warned that the entry of the far-right into the Government would pose a risk to already consolidated rights and defended that "silence and indifference are not an option" in the face of the challenges that, in his opinion, Spanish democracy faces.