08/23/2020 - 11:51
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Alberto Fernández defended the justice reform project this Sunday, in the midst of its debate in Congress and as a result of the controversy that was generated by the addition that points to the media and that some call the "Parrilli amendment."
The President maintained that his objective was to generate a debate around Justice and to generate contributions, against " some who want the reform not to come out and to maintain the judicial corporation , which has done so much damage."
And that in the framework of the parliamentary debate the point referring to "the media powers" was added , which indicated that "it is an almost idle addition , because it has a more casuistic sense", because it defines the situations by counting specific cases.
The article under discussion is about 72 subparagraph e), which states: "The judges of all jurisdictions with federal jurisdiction based in the provinces and in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, must (...) communicate in Immediately inform the Council of the Magistracy of the Nation any attempt to influence its decisions by political, economic or media powers, members of the Judicial, Executive or Legislative Power, friends or pressure groups of any kind, and request the necessary measures for your protection ".
The article raised the alert of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), who expressed concern about the article that obliges judges to denounce possible pressure "from the media powers" that they receive in the exercise of their functions and that thus added the multiple criticisms against the changes made by the senator from the Frente de Todos, Oscar Parrilli, to the project sent by the national government to reform justice.
And they asked the Senate to have "the wisdom necessary to nullify a clause that is tinged with political intentions and that evidences a retaliation that seeks to restrict the function of informing, criticizing, expressing opinions, denouncing and supervising that the press is responsible for in a democracy".
The opinion of the Commissions on Constitutional Affairs and Justice and Criminal Matters incorporated the clause that affects freedom of expression, some constitutionalists claim.
Parrilli's intervention in the plenary of the Senate committees
However, the head of state maintained that " nothing changes the meaning of the norm." " What people have to understand when they talk about freedom of the press and all these things, if you ask me, is that it is an almost idle attaché ," insisted the president.
At the same time, he explained that the sense is to provide the judges with more tools, so that they "respect rules of conduct" to avoid situations that alter the criteria of justice.
"One of those subsections orders the judge to inform , communicate exactly, to the Council of the Magistracy situations in which - the word does not say press but it is that - in which he can be pressured by factual powers, political, economic power, now they add media power. And other cases where that pressure can affect the freedom of the judge to decide, "said the president.
Along these lines, he pointed out that the magistrate should only communicate this situation to the Magistracy, so that the body "guarantees the asepsis in which a judge must judge . "
