When Javier Gómez de Liaño arrived at the scene of the attack, his friend Carmen Tagle was already on the floor next to his white Renault 12 and someone was looking for a blanket to cover it. As he approached to confirm the fright with his eyes, the judge heard something.
- It is a detail that I have never told: in the cassette car was ringing Life is still the same .
The steel prosecutor liked to drive with a soundtrack, dodge for a while his fight against the bloody letters of ETA with the syrup of the rhymes of Julio Iglesias .
Life goes on?
Nothing was the same after that day, an unrecoverable Tuesday in which ETA killed the prosecutor Carmen Tagle in Madrid in the morning and in the afternoon in Bilbao the fishmonger Luis Reina Mesonero . The Bilbao crime was "an irreparable mistake," according to the cynical scale of Human Rights that the band applied. That of Madrid was a pride for terrorism, but it made a notch in the history calendar: judges and prosecutors began to take escort, ETA inaugurated a line of attacks against jurists ( Fungairiño, Lage, Alfaro, Emperor, Querol, Goalkeeper, Tomás y Valiente ), France had another reason to collaborate, Spain expanded its sociology of horror and a family was marked forever.
- We are believers, and my sister continues to live for us. It still exists, but I don't know how.
Like every September 12, José Antonio Tagle and his brothers will put on Thursday a bouquet of red roses in Carmen's grave. And then they will have done it 30 times, because this Thursday 30 years ago an ETA gunman riddled an iron prosecutor who wrote with a pen.
This is the story of the prosecutor asking for full compliance with the sentences and even the extension of the maximum time of 30 years.
The one that said that in Spain "it costs the same to kill a person than seven".
The one who ordered a defendant to behave in the courtroom.
The one that asked to prosecute Pujol or Samaranch .
And the one who worried that the ETAs were well fed because "they are people."
This is the story of Carmen Tagle.
"It was correct in the professional treatment, very hard in the interrogations and affectionate personally when there was trust," says Judge Baltasar Garzón , who does not forget his "absolute" involvement in the investigation of the dome and the framework of ETA.
«I had an aggressive soon. It was very hard on the criminals and very human with the victims, ”says lawyer and former prosecutor María Dolores Márquez de Prado , who does not forget Tagle an hour before she was killed.
«I was passionate personally and to accuse. Very belligerent as a prosecutor, ”says lawyer and former judge Javier Gómez de Liaño , who does not forget the years in which Tagle“ had three courts and was still studying. ”
«It was a personal charm, but strict in his work. To a defendant he said: 'Fasten your shirt and talk respectfully'. And he did not marry anyone: neither with ETA, nor with the LAGs , nor with Rumasa ... », says his brother José Antonio, who does not forget.
That summer my sister cut her hair, she was weird and nervous. I think it chewed the tragedy. Then we learned that Josu Ternera said: 'To this one, kill him'
José Antonio TagleTagle's professional life began to get complicated in 1985, when he arrived at the National Court , where he delved into drug trafficking, terrorism and the dirty state war . There he became friends with Márquez de Prado. "She was at court number 5 and I was at 2. We were the only two women in the audience."
The nights with Eduardo Fungairiño and Márquez de Prado watching James Bond movies were a parenthesis with colleagues in years of ash. «The same thing that cornered the defendants helped me with my baby. One day, before the hearing, Iñaki Esnaola , the lawyer of ETA, asked me: 'Who enters, you or Mrs. Carmen?'. I replied that I said: "Uff, less bad."
And when Garzón arrived at the National Court, the 5th became a court without prudence.
Pure hard line.
«He had been identified as the toughest in terrorism for some time. It was very vehement to expose. But as hard with ETA as with the GAL. For her, everyone had committed a crime. He told me: 'Baltasar, you're right: this is outrageous, you have to investigate.' And then it was relentless. I didn't look the other way. And that idea was explicit in courage and desire to fight. That was seen in the trial ... and the killers also saw it.
Garzón has a framed photo of Carmen Tagle at home. They shared meetings, trips and investigations against the dome and the total scaffolding of ETA. «I told him: 'We are going to France to show them that we are not going to fall back.' And Carmen joined without hesitation: 'Let's go' ».
Garzón requested a rogatory commission to question ETA leaders imprisoned in France and Judge Michel Legrand accepted.
Then came a key day in life and who knows if in the death of Carmen Tagle: May 16, 1989.
Garzón, Tagle and the policemen Enrique Díaz Pintado and Emiliano Calzada traveled to Paris to interrogate Elena Beloki, 'Santi Potros' and 'Josu Ternera' . According to Garzón, Beloki only spoke of repression and he discussed it. At one point, Legrand urged the ETA to collaborate "or send it to Spain to be tortured." That ignited Garzón and Tagle. «I interrupted her, and she wanted to intervene. I was outraged with the judge and me too. France did not know what ETA was, believed they were soldiers for the freedom of the Basque Country, not terrorists. We don't get much out of that interrogation.
The same did not happen with the others.
In Legrand's office, Santi Potros talked about torture in Spain. Garzón claimed that this happened with Franco , but that 1989 Spain had judicial control and that Amedo and Dominguez were in prison. «I was carrying a dossier that I had asked the Police with photos of attacks. Carmen told me: 'Show it now!' I put it on the table to Legrand and opened it. Santi Colts said that was false and the judge told him to shut up. It was a shock for Legrand. I told him that that was ETA and that these leaders were charged with these attacks or orders to commit them. There the cooperation of France was unlocked ».
Josu Veal said he would only testify when we talked about torture. Carmen said softly: 'Brave son of a bitch.' But he heard it because he looked at Carmen with hate
Baltasar Garzón, judgeThe interrogation of Josu Ternera was so tense that the Etarra asked why Tagle asked compromising questions. The prosecutor herself would later tell the dialogue between the two:
- I am a prosecutor and I do my job, which is to investigate the crimes of ETA and put an end to impunity.
- Good to know where each one is.
Garzón highlights a fact of that interrogation. «'Josu Ternera' said that when we talked about the torture in Intxaurrondo , he would testify. Carmen did not hear well and asked Pintado what 'Veal' had said. When Pintado told him, she released: 'Brave son of a bitch.' Probably 'Veal' heard it, because he looked at Carmen with hate.
«Carmen didn't say that. I'm sure. In all my life I heard him say a taco. The tension with those ETAs came from the questions he asked them and because he told them to just answer, ”says José Antonio Tagle.
When, months later, the Civil Guard arrested Henry Parot , Tagle's murderer declared that Francisco Mujika Garmendia , Pakito , ordered the death of the prosecutor because he always asked for the highest sentences and because, in addition, «he was in the interrogation of 'Josu Veal' ».
Was Tagle's death sentence issued on May 16, 1989?
Garzón: «I've always wondered. Carmen was a great target because she was very hard on ETA. And in it ETA saw an attack of social impact, easy to execute, since it was routine and did not carry an escort, and that inaugurated a strategy of attack against Justice ».
One day, before a hearing, Iñaki Esnaola, the ETA's lawyer, asked me: 'Who enters, you or Mrs. Carmen?' I replied that I said: 'Uff, less bad'
María Dolores Márquez de Prado, former prosecutorWhether or not it was decisive for his death, that face-to-face struggle with the makers of terror did seem to affect Carmen Tagle personally. «That summer she cut her hair, changed her face, she was weird and nervous ... I think my sister was chewing on the tragedy. In fact, we later learned that Josu Ternera said: 'To that, kill him, rile, rile.' But one thing is that I was worried and another that I was afraid. One day he told Enrique Múgica : 'We would be in the future of freedoms if the folds of the togas were wrinkled by the fear of the truth' ».
Garzón says that in recent days he did notice restlessness in his research partner. «On September 10, she told me that they had called her sister's house that morning asking about her. It was a control call. By then, Henri Parot and Jacques Esnal had been watching Tagle's routines for several days: taking a disabled niece to Mass, going to the Audience, leaving the building to go home to eat ...
Tuesday, September 12, 1989.
Garzón climbs into Tagle's office, but she had left. «I wanted to talk about your safety. He was exposing himself a lot ».
In the middle of the morning, José Antonio calls his sister from Munich.
- Are you nervous?
- Now begins a trial against some ETA. Gordillo has told me that on Monday he leaves me his escort.
- Take care and be good.
- I tell you the same thing. A kiss, brother.
Carmen Tagle continues to work and at 2:00 pm, María Dolores Márquez de Prado says goodbye to her. «He accompanied me to the elevator. And there we were to go to see in the afternoon a companion who had had a baby ».
An hour later, Tagle leaves the Audience. Two guys in a black Volkswagen observe how he takes his Renault 12 and follows it through Madrid to his house. The streets of the Pilar neighborhood narrow and the prosecutor's car begins to run more slowly without suspecting that death is in a hurry. Tagle arrives at the height of number 17 of Julio Palacios street and stops the car. It is a slight ramp that gives access to the garage.
She is smoking menthol tobacco and Julio Iglesias is playing ...
Parot gets out of his car, gets up to the window of the Renault 12 and starts shooting.
Carmen Tagle dies on the spot.
When I approached Carmen's body, in her car it was ringing 'Life is the same'
Javier Gómez de Liaño, former judge«His crime changed the tactics of ETA, which began to attempt against the Audience», analyzes Gómez de Liaño.
«The day after the attack, Rafael Vera forced us to take an escort. He told me: 'And you sell your 600 red, which appears in all the photos', ”recalls Márquez de Prado.
«ETA has not delivered the weapons and is in politics. Now comes the worst. They will start to release. Parot and Esnal will get out of jail, ”laments José Antonio Tagle.
«His crime was a qualitative leap of ETA. But its presence in the institutions ended in 2009, with the dismantling of the entire network. One thing was the organizations that were penetrated by ETA and another that still do not ask for forgiveness, but they are legal, ”Garzón reflects.
At the funeral, a man was crying profusely away from the grave. José Antonio Tagle asked his family if anyone knew him. No one knew who it was. So Tagle approached and the man introduced himself.
- I am the manager of the Manila cafeteria next to the Audience. His sister was a saint. When they brought an ETA, he came and said: 'Are they well fed? The prisoner is a person and deserves dignity. Prepare them a paella and pass me the bill '.
- Thank you very much for what you tell me. Have you left anything to duty?
- No way. She always complied.
Baltasar Garzón, with the coffin on his shoulders
The world of Justice collapsed a few days. There were threats, but the murders of Judges Jáuregui and Mateu in 1978 were so 'distant' that no one seemed to really believe that the band was going to attack the togas. Tagle was the first prosecutor. And woman. His body was veiled in the same room of the Supreme Court where this year the trial of 'procés' was held and in 2012 Baltasar Garzón was disabled. But that day of 1989 the jurists, faced some with each other years later, all went to one. And they took the coffin on their shoulders: Baltasar Garzón, Roberto Hernández, Javier Gómez de Liaño, Andrés Martínez Arrieta, Ignacio Gordillo or Ismael Moreno . Last year, the tribute came to the street: the Madrid City Council placed a permanent plaque in the place where Tagle was killed and a park in the capital is named after him.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- ETA
- Spain
- France
- Baltasar Garzón
- Madrid
- National audience
- Julio Iglesias
- Civil Guard
- Paris
- Basque Country
- Parot doctrine
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