High-profile Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon has been suspended from his post by the country's judicial body. The decision was unanimously adopted by the General Council of the Judiciary.
He is due to face trial on charges that he abused his powers by opening an inquiry in 2008 into crimes committed during Francisco Franco's rule.
Mr Garzon was later forced to drop the investigation into the crimes committed during the 1936-39 Civil War in Spain, which are covered by an amnesty. In February, a Supreme Court investigating magistrate ruled that Mr Garzon had ignored the 1977 amnesty by launching the investigation.
Mr Garzon, 54, who is highly popular among the Spanish political left and international human rights campaigners, appealed against the ruling, saying his inquiry was legitimate.
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TVNL Comment: No reports of this suspension mention Garzon's role in trying to investigate the Bush administration officials who allowed torture. Who has more to lose here, the long dead Francisco Franco or George Bush? Just asking........