Jasmine Bullorini
09/16/2020 - 23:15
Clarín.com
Politics
After a previous full of crosses with the opposition and alone - because the Juntos por el Cambio bloc disconnected from the session
denouncing irregularities
- the Senate ruling party approved this Wednesday to remove from their positions the chambermaids
Leopoldo Bruglia
and
Pablo Bertuzzi
and the Judge
Germán Castelli
, who intervene in corruption cases related to Cristina Kirchner.
Now the magistrates -Bruglia and Bertuzzi confirmed the prosecution of the current vice president in the case known as “
Cuadernos de las bribes”
and Castelli is a member of the oral court that will judge that case- were one step away from having to return to their courts of origin.
All three are awaiting a possible court intervention.
The rejection of the transfers was approved by 41 votes in favor of the ruling party and its allies.
"Unanimously"
, stressed the head of the ruling party, José Mayans.
None of the 29 opposition senators participated in the vote.
Senator Laura Rodríguez Machado (PRO-Córdoba) leaves the Senate session this Wednesday.
Photo: Lucia Merle.
The ruling party argued that the transfers of the three judges were "unconstitutional" because they were appointed by decree during the government of Mauricio Macri.
They were also objected to having adopted a position of "
rebellion
" by not having attended the Senate Accords committee when they were convened.
"To endorse this situation is to endorse that there are two systems: the constitutional one and the one made by the previous government, which was a selection of judges a la carte, according to their convenience," said the head of the Agreement Commission, the Christian
Anabel Fernández Sagasti
.
Days ago, Cristina Kirchner herself had tweeted against Bruglia and Bertuzzi.
This Wednesday, at the time the vote was taken to displace the judges, Cristina was not presiding over the Senate session but Senator
Claudia Ledesma.
Before withdrawing from the session -in reality “disconnecting” since it was virtual-, Together for Change rejected the procedure and indicated an advance of the ruling party on Justice.
“The transfers of these judges did not require the agreement of the Senate.
They are valid if it is to perform functions of the same hierarchy and similar competence.
Even the former Minister of Justice (Germán Garavano) consulted the Court on the procedure, ”said PRO senator Laura Rodríguez Machado, who considered that“ there is a political decision to advance on Justice ”.
And he sentenced: “The next step will be to declare null and void everything that was done by these judges because they are going to say that their transfers were not in accordance with the law.
But there is a doctrine of the Court to give legitimacy to the actions of judges removed from their positions.
But they want to increase the members of the Court to modify this decision.
Full carton ”.
They also questioned the agenda of the session.
"Today's agenda is that of the President of the body, then disguise it as an epic, democratization of Justice, but it is simply that," declared the radical Martín Lousteau, who at the start starred in a new intersection with Cristina, with annoyance, by the division of the times for the speakers.
Bruglia and Bertuzzi were appointed in 2018 by Mauricio Macri to fill two vacancies in the Federal Chamber.
Castelli was transferred to the Federal Oral Court 7, where he processed the case of the "Notebooks".
He said he will not recognize what the Senate approved.
“I am going to fight until the last consequences.
If they want to get me out, let them shove me out in front of people, "he
told TV.
Now, the Senate will communicate its decision to the Executive, which has to issue the corresponding removal decree, which will take effect once it is published in the Official Gazette.
Cristina Kirchner sings the Anthem at the beginning of the session this Wednesday.
Photo: Lucia Merle
In turn, the senators still have to rule on the other 7 transfers of judges that are under review in the Accords commission.
It is expected that they will do it next week, and that the following week they will take it to the venue.
JxC left the session after voting to continue with virtual sessions for 60 days.
He denounced that Cristina extended them without agreement and that a qualified majority was needed to ratify that protocol.
Controversy over the extension of virtual sessions
Last Monday Cristina Kirchner signed a decree in which she extended the virtual sessions of the Senate for another 60 days.
That extension was voted on and approved this Wednesday by the ruling party in the compound, although Juntos por el Cambio questioned it.
On the one hand because the decision of Kirchnerism was unilateral.
On the other, because as they understand the regulation is violated.
"We are not going to allow the violation of the regulation. They advance without counting on two thirds. We hope not to have to initiate a judicialization instance", warned the radical Luis Naidenoff, who announced that they would withdraw from the session and asked the vice president "
a political gesture "
to unblock the situation.
JxC had requested a special session.
But she was discharged at the last minute when they saw that the decree that they refuse to accept as valid was included in the call made by Cristina.
"In order not to fall into this trap we have decided to suspend it," they said.
Look also
Together for Change he harshly criticized Kirchnerism for displacing the judges investigating Cristina Kirchner: "It is an institutional coup"
Cristina Kirchner, in the style of Amado Boudou in the Senate