Claudio Andrade
03/16/2021 3:18 PM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/16/2021 3:18 PM
The Judicial Council in Río Negro
dismissed Judge Erika Fontela
, who was in charge of the Family, Civil, Commercial, Mining and Probate Court of
El Bolsón
, for the
constant
mistreatment and harassment
of the magistrate towards her employees and colleagues of jurisdiction.
By
6 votes to 2,
the body dismissed the controversial judge and
disqualified her for 5 years from
holding another judicial position.
He also imposed the costs of the jury.
The sentence read by the president of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and head of the Council of the Magistracy, Ricardo Apcarian, did not save in hard terms towards the performance of the magistrate.
On Thursdays, they based their decision on the accounts of employees and lawyers who assured that Fontela
had attacked them in various ways
in recent years, fueling a very difficult work environment.
"These
offensive, humiliating, hostile or confusing
behaviors or behaviors
in the directives and the ways of carrying out the work are not in accordance with what society expects from the head of a public body", indicates the sentence document.
"We cannot fail to mention the legal, moral and ethical inefficiency of trying to justify the facts faced with insufficient material and human resources and with a lack of employee training," added the jury.
"Institutionally it
is untenable to
justify tremendous human rights violations," the text continues, reiterating that she is not excused for the overflow of work and the lack of structure in her court, as argued by her defender Rodolfo Rodrigo.
Around
70 witnesses
sympathized before the Rio Negro court.
According to the testimonies, the former judge warned one of the employees: "If you get 15 files, I'll get it ...".
To a woman who also worked there, she said: "Not even your husband touches you."
To another employee: "How neat your hair is, I'm sure I won't c ...".
At different times during his work, he used expressions such as "son of a bitch", "conchuda" and "vos sos uncogible".
Fontela had been working since February 26, 2016 and the complaints against him began in 2018. He had been away since 2019 with 80% of his remuneration.
In and around El Bolsón, neighbors and social organizations supported Fontela as an official "close to the people."
"I was never violent, it was very difficult and that is why I needed so much psychological help," Fontela explained in his defense.
"I am not a person to mistreat, mistreatment is not born to me. I must admit that
I have a somewhat inappropriate vocabulary
perhaps to the place where I was," he added.
The former magistrate,
the residents
tell
Clarín
, kept the files
in boxes of bananas
and was surrounded by personnel with little experience who did not help her much.
It turned out that he had requested
furniture
26 times
from his superiors, without obtaining results.
"She is a judge very close to the people, capable of listening," Luis Albornoz of the organization Justicia Comarca told this newspaper days ago.
DD