Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzon, went on trial Tuesday in Madrid accused of abusing his judicial authority in an investigation into financial corruption.

The trial before a seven-judge panel at Spain's Supreme Court began Tuesday morning and if convicted, Garzon, who was suspended in 2010 pending the trial, would not go to jail but could lose his right permanently to be a judge in Spain.

The trial in the so-called Gurtel financial and political corruption case is just the first of two trials against Garzon. Next week, a case that many legal experts say is the more important one, accuses Garzon again of overstepping his legal authority while investigating human rights abuses under the former dictatorship of Spain's Francisco Franco.

Garzon became known internationally in 1998 when he sought the extradition of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was in a London hospital. Garzon accused him of the murder of Spaniards in Chile and of crimes of genocide.