Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge who famously indicted late Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet, has found himself in the dock for the first time.
He went on trial at the supreme court in Madrid charged with illegally authorising police to bug the conversations of lawyers with clients.
He denied wrongdoing and said he had always sought to protect detainees’ right to a fair defence.
It is the first of three private prosecutions Judge Garzon is facing.
Suspended from Spain’s National Court in 2010, he could see an end to his career if convicted.
Dressed in his own judge’s robes, Mr Garzon, 56, sat next to his lawyer in court.
