Generalisimo Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain for 36 years, may be laughing in his grave. An attempt by Baltasar Garzón to investigate atrocities committed by Franco and his henchmen is set to produce a trial¯but of Mr Garzón himself.

(...) The case against Mr Garzón was brought by supporters of Franco, a figure who Spaniards often claim to have put behind them. The judge's accusers include a far-right union, Clean Hands, and Falange Española, the modern version of a political party many Spaniards blame for running death squads during and after the civil war.

The case is further proof of Mr Garzón's tendency to act as a lightning rod for the issues that most trouble his country. Corruption, terrorism, organised crime and, now, the ghosts of Spain's violent past have all come under the scrutiny of the 54-year-old judge. His decision to probe Francoist atrocities came several years after victims' families began their own investigations, digging up the mass graves left by death squads and exposing the injustices of a painful period that the rest of the country had cloaked in silence. (...)

Human-rights campaigners have declared themselves outraged at the case against Mr Garzón. Emilio Silva, head of the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, which represents the families of Franco's victims, says some of those who committed atrocities in the caudillo's name are still alive. It is a terrible irony, he says, that the only person being pursued through the courts today because of Francoism is Mr Garzón.