Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a former Spanish judge. Garzón formerly served on Spain's central criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, and was the examining magistrate of the Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5, which investigates the most important criminal cases in Spain, including terrorism, organised crime, and money laundering. In 2011, he was suspended from judicial activity and in 2012 he was convicted of illegal wiretapping and disbarred for a period of 11 years. During this time, Garzón legally assisted Julian Assange. On 24 March 2020, it was announced that Garzón was diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Early life Born in Torres, Jaén, Garzón graduated from the University of Seville in 1979. He was appointed to the Audiencia Nacional in 1988, and rapidly made his name in Spain by pursuing the Basque separatist group ETA. Political career In 1993, Garzón asked for an extended leave of absence as a judge and went into politics, running for the Congress of Deputies (the lower house of parliament) as an independent candidate on the party list of the then ruling party Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). Prime Minister Felipe González appointed him head of a strengthened National Plan Against Drugs, but Garzón resigned shortly after being appointed, complaining of lack of support from the government, and returned to the Audiencia Nacional. Spanish cases GAL His 1994 investigation led to the conviction of José Barrionuevo Peña, a former Interior minister, as head of the Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL), a state terrorist group. Drug-trafficking Garzón made his name as a magistrate through several police operations centred on drug-trafficking in Galicia. Colombian cartels, such as the Medellín Cartel, were using the Galician mafia, already accustomed to smuggling tobacco, to smuggle drugs into Spain. In 1990, Operación Nécora led to the conviction of members of the clan led by Laureano Oubiña. The following year Garzón headed another investigation, Operación Pitón, which led to the conviction of members of the Charlines clan. Caso Atlético In 1999, he investigated Jesús Gil, the former mayor of Marbella and owner of Atlético Madrid, who was convicted in 2002 on grounds of corruption. Closure of media outlets Garzón has also presided in many trials against alleged ETA members. Falling back on the judicial presumption named "everything is ETA", he presided a case against Orain S.A., the Basque communication company that published