Daniel Santoro
02/27/2020 - 18:04
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Opposition deputies warned that, in addition to changes in retirements, the project approved Thursday in Deputies modifies the regime of substitutions of judges, which will prevent the Justice from appointing retired magistrates as alternates and will allow the Government to appoint conjuncts in courts that investigate The causes of corruption.
The legislator of Together for Change Graciela Ocaña told Clarín that the “hidden maneuver consists in repealing article 16 of law 24.018 that established the possibility for the Justice to summon retired judges for vacant positions”, while the process to appoint To a new magistrate. The president of the Association of Magistrates, Marcelo Gallo Tagle, estimated that by this new law will resign about 150 judges and officials who are already old enough to do so.
For his part, the deputy of Together for Change Pablo Tonelli also expressed concern about the repeal of article 16 of law 24.018 that "was put on Wednesday at the last moment at the request of Deputy Leopoldo Moreau ." The legislator and lawyer said that this repeal "makes it legally doubtful to appoint , as of now, retired judges" by Justice itself.
Pablo Tonelli at a meeting of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
Tonelli said that the project to modify retirement should be linked to the " dismantling of the protected witness program , the video of the president (Alberto Fernández) talking about the lawfare story, the project to intervene Jujuy's justice, plus the project to end with the preventive prisons "because all this marks" an attack on the autonomy of Justice ".
If the Senate converts the bill into law, Ocaña added, the 27,145 will remain in force, which is the subrogation law that establishes that before a vacancy, the Government will prepare a list of conjunctions , who must pass an examination in the Council of the Magistracy (where the ruling party is the first minority) and then the Senate gives it the agreement ”. In the upper house, Peronism has a majority.
Indeed, article 18 of the bill that has a half sanction as of today says: “Repeal subsections a), b), c) and e) of article 16 of Law No. 24.018”.
Article 16 of Law 24.018 says that “magistrates and retired officials under specific legal provisions for the Judicial Power of the Nation will retain the judicial status and may be called to temporarily occupy in cases of suspension, license or vacancy, the position they held in an opportunity to cease the service or another of the same hierarchy of the Judiciary or the Public Ministry of the Nation ”.
That is, that Justice can summon retired judges. Thus, for example, judges José Martínez Sobrino and Julio Panelo, both members of the Federal Oral Court (TOF) No. 6, which judges the case of irregular purchase of scrap trains, could continue in their positions. But by repealing this article, it could be replaced by conjuncts appointed by the Government, Ocaña said.
If the new retirement law of the judges is approved, in addition, the subrogation law number 27,439 will remain in force, Ocaña said.
He explained that this law 27,439, in its article 2, says that before a vacancy the respective Chamber of Appeals “will proceed to the designation of a subrogated judge within three days of the occurrence of the cause that motivates the sub-elegance, and according to the following order: with a judge of equal competence and of the same territorial jurisdiction and with a conjugate member of the list made ”by the Government.
For Ocaña, it is a project similar to the “democratization of Justice” promoted by Cristina Kirchner in her second presidential term to “colonize” the judicial system and the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional.
Extraordinary session to vote the reform in privilege retirements. Photo: Guillermo Rodríguez Adami.
Ocaña, estimated that the cut to judicial retirements could cause “50 percent of vacancies in federal prosecutors and courts” investigating corruption cases.
Speaking to Radio Rivadavia, the legislator said that with this initiative "the Government wants to detonate Justice" and added that "with this overwhelming, the Government seeks to get impunity for Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, her children and her former officials "Processed.
In that sense, he also said that "the ruling party intends to co-opt the Judiciary by disguising it as an anti-privilege law ."
The national legislator stressed that this project that was approved in the lower house, with the absence of opposition, "would change the sub-elegance system and eliminate the judicial status so that retired judges can be called to fill vacancies."
"Now they want to provoke the massive resignation of judges and prosecutors, which could reach almost half of the Judiciary, paralyzing causes and enabling discretion to nominate the judges who must investigate Kirchnerist corruption," he added.
In a statement, he said: "We want to warn society not to be surprised if, in order to complete this maneuver, they want to reform the entire subrogation regime later."
