In the first politically hot debate of the year, the Council of the Nation's Judiciary
rejected this Wednesday
a proposal to sanction the judge of the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation Juan Carlos Gemignani for having directed sexist phrases to his female colleagues in that court but in the context of a private WhatsApp group.
In another order of things, the Judiciary
called for early competitions for courts as proposed by the Minister of Justice, Mariana Cúneo Libarona
, and appointed a new administrator of the Nation's judicial power.
As
a sign of toughness in the face of these gender issues
, the president of the Court and also head of that body, Horacio Rosatti,
voted in favor of taking 30 percent of his salary and forcing him to take a course on gender issues according to the Micaela law.
The sanction proposal had been raised by
the president of the Council's Disciplinary Commission, former deputy K Héctor Recalde
and
did not
reach two-thirds of the votes to be approved.
Since the case began, the Ks pushed the request for sanctions against Gemignani who
had declared the pact with Iran unconstitutional, among other measures that former president Cristina Kirchner did not like.
11 members of the Council voted in favor of the sanction:
Rosatti, Hugo Galderisi (representative of academics), María Vázquez (academics), Guillermo Tamarit (academics), Alberto Lugones (judge K), Vanesa Siley (ultra K deputy), Héctor Recalde, Mariano Recalde (senator K), Luis Juez (PRO senator), Inés Pilatti de Vergara (senator K) and Rodolfo Tailhade (ultra K deputy)
There were 8 votes against the sanction:
Miguel Piedecasas (representative of the lawyers), Diego Barroetaveña (judges), Roxana Reyes (deputies of the UCR), Alejandra Provitola (judge), Jimena De la Torre (lawyers), Agustina Díaz Cordero (judge), Alberto Vischi (UCR senator) and Alvaro González (PRO deputies).
Before the vote, Councilor Vázquez said that "
those misogynistic expressions
have to be rejected, repudiated, they cannot be naturalized under any point of view, we as the Council of the Judiciary look aside from these expressions, what are we going to do?" say March 8, Women's Day".
In turn, Luis Juez said that "I agree with Counselor Vázquez, it is not the best way to debut in this Council of the Judiciary. I am obliged to say that I do
not understand how we do not have unanimity
on this, a person is speaking who always goes to the grass when he makes a statement
In turn, Rosatti said briefly “I couldn't vote because I can see it later in Court, but I am going to vote and I want to
testify today
and give a commitment to the work that we have been doing in this body in recent times.”
"Happy day to all!!!
Especially for the criminals
!!!", began the message in a private chat to her colleagues on March 8, 2021, for Women's Day, which earned her that complaint before the Council of the Judiciary, a body chaired at that time by Diego Molea, rector of the University of Lomas de Zamora and ally of Kirchnerism.
In that group of Cassation judges were Angela Ledesma and Ana María Figueroa.
In his defense, Gemignani had asked the court to declare unconstitutional the decision of the Judicial Council to investigate
that comment he made in a private court chat.
In a brief, presented by his lawyers Luis Velasco and Norberto Giletta, Gemignani said that “the measures that, covered under the character of "probationary" and under the protection of article 15 of the Regulations of the commission (of the Judiciary), violate
my elementary constitutional rights of honorability and privacy, guaranteed by art.
19 and 18 of our Magna Carta
”.
Héctor Recalde, the same one who promoted the sanction against Gemignani, on the other hand, until the end of last year
had not named a person responsible for substantiating a file against Judge K of La Plata, Alejo Ramos Padilla, accused of lying in Congress about the Operation Poof against the cause of the Cuadernos de las Bribes.
Ramos Padilla was denounced by former deputy Pablo Tonelli and his colleagues from the Civic Coalition Juan Manuel López and Paula Oliveto.
The vote on Gemignani was in the Plenary Session of the National Judicial Council.
For his part, the head of the Accusation Commission, lawyer Miguel Piedecasas,
announced that the testimonial hearings began in the file in which the actions of Judge Hernán Diego Pappa, who is being investigated for complaints of labor abuse, are being investigated
.
Hearings will continue on Tuesdays and Fridays for the next few weeks.
After the planned reports, the Plenary of the Judiciary appointed
Alexis Varady as the new General Administrator of the Nation's Judicial Branch
.
The official's oath was received by Rosatti at the end of the plenary meeting.
Likewise, Ricardo Gómez Diez was appointed as Director of the Agency for Access to Public Information, for a new period.
In this framework, the President of the Selection Commission and Judicial School María Fernanda Vázquez, highlighted that the draws for the juries
in Contests 496, 497, 498, 499, 500 and 501 were carried out.
Likewise, the draw for the teaching category of Constitutional Law in Contest 495, which seeks to fill vacancies created in the Federal Criminal Justice of the Province of Santa Fe. Contest 494 also corresponds to that jurisdiction, in which the drawing of jurors took place, procedure which was also carried out in Contest 489.
In addition, he said that the personal interviews in Contest 473 were scheduled for next March 21.
And he announced that, at the end of the plenary session, the Commission would proceed to reveal the keys to contest 482 in order to advance in the formation of the corresponding order of merit.
Next, it was put to the consideration of the Plenary and it was resolved to
instruct the Magistrate Selection Commission to proceed with the call for preliminary competitions aimed at filling the vacancies that occur in the National Courts of First Instance of various jurisdictions
- with exception of Minors and Criminal Rogatory-;
as well as in the Oral Criminal and Correctional Courts.
Early competitions are provided for in article 7, paragraph 6, of the law of the Council of the Judiciary and their process has been regulated by the Plenary through Resolution CM 377/2023.
In the case of the Courts of First Instance, up to 4 vacancies will be sought to be filled and, in the case of the Oral Courts, up to 8.
Regarding the opinions issued by the Administration and Financial Commission, they were approved in their entirety.
On the other hand, the 2023 Annual Report on Preventive Prisons was approved and style communications will be carried out.
The session took place in the “Lino E. Palacio” Judicial Council meeting room and was broadcast live through this portal and the Agency's YouTube channel.