By Steve Kingstone
BBC News, Madrid
**Spain’s most famous judge will himself appear in court on Wednesday, accused of overreaching his judicial powers.**In October 2008, Baltasar Garzon launched a controversial inquiry into atrocities committed during the four-decade rule of Gen Francisco Franco.
The Supreme Court will hear a complaint by a right-wing group that the judge knowingly exceeded his official remit.
Judge Garzon’s headline-grabbing indictments have targeted the likes of Augusto Pinochet and Osama Bin Laden.
But did the celebrity judge overstep the mark last October, in launching an unprecedented inquiry into what he called “crimes against humanity” committed during the Franco era
Shelved
In a blaze of publicity, Mr Garzon had pledged to investigate the disappearance of more than 100,000 people during and after the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.
But the inquiry was shelved following opposition from state prosecutors and his fellow judges.
On Wednesday, Mr Garzon will have to explain himself before Spain’s Supreme Court, following a complaint by a right-wing organisation called Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands.
It alleges that the judge knowingly exceeded his legal remit by asking government departments to hand over papers from the Franco period.
Mr Garzon strongly denies breaking the law, and has the backing of the International Commission of Jurists - which says his short-lived inquiry did not justify disciplinary action, let alone criminal prosecution.
It would be a major surprise were this crusading judge to be charged with a crime.
But his very appearance in court offers yet more evidence of how a dark past, seven decades old, continues to divide the Spain of today.