Discussion on the occasion of the publication of his book. Centre Cultural La Nau
Discussion with
Carlos Castresana
On the occasion of the publication of his book “Bajo las togas. Errores judiciales y otras infamias”
(Under the Robes: Judicial Errors and Other Infamies)
Presented by
Cristina García Pascual, Head of Initiatives, Aula de Narrativas
Dr. Castresana has worked as a lawyer, magistrate, investigating judge and prosecutor for more than 30 years. He is currently Prosecutor at the Court of Auditors of Spain and the UN Human Rights Commissioner for South Sudan.
In 1989 he entered the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office through a competitive examination. Since then, he has served in the prosecutor’s offices of Almería, Barcelona and Madrid, as well as in the Special Prosecutor’s Offices for Drug Trafficking and Anti-Corruption. In 2005 he was appointed to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court of Spain, and since 2020 he has served at the Court of Auditors.
In 1996, Dr. Castresana took the initiative to file complaints before the National Court regarding the crimes committed by the military juntas of the 1970s in Argentina and Chile. These complaints initiated the “Pinochet case”, which today constitutes one of the most important precedents for holding heads of state criminally accountable for international crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Dr. Castresana prepared the legal reports on genocide, torture, state terrorism, crimes against humanity, non-applicability of statutory limitations and extradition that made possible the arrest in London of General Augusto Pinochet in October 1998. For this initiative, Dr. Castresana received the National Human Rights Award in Spain.
In 2007, the UN Secretary-General appointed Dr. Castresana Commissioner against Impunity in Guatemala, with the rank of UN Assistant Secretary-General. He served in this position until 2010. In recognition of his work in Guatemala, he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Quetzal (Guatemala), the Order of Civil Merit of Spain, and was named Officer of the Legion of Honour of France and Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He also holds honorary doctorates (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), the Central University of Chile, and the National Institute of Criminal Sciences of Mexico.
Dr. Castresana has served as an expert in numerous legal missions for the Council of Europe, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Bank, among others, and has provided legal advice to Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
He has written numerous articles published in newspapers and specialized legal journals, and has delivered lectures at universities and institutions in Europe and the Americas (including Harvard, Yale, NYU, CUNY, Drexel, Berkeley and Stanford). He has also been Professor of Criminal Law at Carlos III University of Madrid, and Professor of International Criminal Law at the University of San Francisco (California), Haverford College (Pennsylvania), and at the University Centre for Financial Studies (CUNEF) in Madrid.
In 2016 he received the first Award for Transparency, Integrity and the Fight against Corruption from the General Council of Spanish Lawyers and Transparency International. In 2024 he was awarded the Medal of the Barcelona Bar Association. In October 2025 he published the book “Bajo las togas, errores judiciales y otras infamias” (Tusquets Editores).
Free admission, limited seating
