UN admonishes Argentina's Macri for judicial interference

[sandensea]

Diego García-Sayán, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, formally requested an explanation from Argentine President Mauricio Macri over evidence of persecution of judges and prosecutors seen as adversaries.

The note, addressed to Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refers to a possible "systematic plan" against judicial officials.

Among the instances cited by the special envoy are:

» Political intervention in the Council of Magistrates, beginning with the illegal appointment of hard-line pro-Macri Congressman Pablo Tonelli in 2016.

Tonelli's appointment gave Macri an absolute majority in the powerful council, which then moved to remove numerous federal judges whom the administration saw as adversaries, while protecting judges who ruled against political rivals.

» The 2018 removal of numerous federal judges who had either recently ruled against jailing opponents or (in Carlos Rozanski's case) for refusing to furlough convicted tax cheat Leonardo Fariña, whom Fariña's own lawyer asserts to have perjured himself at Justice Minister Germán Garavano's behest against opponents.

Rozanski had been in the crosshairs of apologists of the country's last dictatorship - who largely support Macri - since his 2006 sentencing of former police inspector Miguel Etchecolatz for crimes against humanity.

» The removal of Chief Federal Prosecutor Alejandra Gils Carbó in 2017. Her replacement, Eduardo Casal, was named on an "interim" basis, thereby skirting Senate approval.

The UN affirms that the government pressured and threatened the stability of the Public Prosecutor's Office by way of campaigns orchestrated with right-wing dailies Clarín and La Nación - both staunch Macri allies.

Her removal drew comparisons to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's firing of that country's chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega Díaz, weeks earlier.

» The illegal designation of Judge Juan Manuel Culotta as chief electoral court judge for Buenos Aires Province (the nation's largest).

Culotta, a high school friend of the president, oversaw the controversial vote count in the 2017 senate race in the province, which Macri's candidate narrowly won amid evidence of zeroed-out vote counts in numerous precincts for center-left rival Cristina Kirchner.

» The illegal designation in 2016 of federal judges Leopoldo Bruglia and Juan Carlos Mahiques.

Before his appointment, Mahiques - who belongs to the far-right Catholic sect Opus Dei - was best known for his judicial dissent in 2006 against a disabled teen who had sought an abortion after being raped by her uncle.

» The 2018 removal of Federal Prosecutor Juan Pedro Zoni amid his investigation of an unpaid $268 million debt by the Macri family's Socma conglomerate dating from their 1997-2003 management of the then-privatized Argentine Postal Service.

» The attack against Federal Judge Martina Forns, whose 2016 ruling forced Macri to submit massive increases in public service rates to public comment (as the law stipulates). Forns and other judges who ruled against the rate hikes were subjected to public intimidation and open calls for prosecution by Macri officials.

» The attack on Federal Judge Alejo Ramos Padilla, who oversees "d'Alessiogate" - the ongoing case of a wide-reaching extortion scheme involving Argentina's Federal Intelligence (AFI) and at least $12 million in ransom payments and false testimony coerced against political rivals.

The UN report noted that investigation generated a strongly negative reaction by the national government - including calls from Macri himself for the judge's removal.

These allegations were underscored by a federal probe launched on October 11 over documents showing extensive surveillance on federal judges and prosecutors - something the Association of Magistrates and National Judiciary Officials called "systematic illegalities."

Federal Judge María Servini de Cubría admitted in a 2017 interview that under Macri "pressure on judges has been unprecedented."

The dean of Argentine federal judges, she has sat on the bench since 1975 - a period including the last dictatorship.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&tab=wT&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eldestapeweb.com%2Fnota%2Fpunto-por-punto-los-atropellos-a-la-justicia-en-el-gobierno-de-macri-segun-la-onu-201911411417

Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, President Mauricio Macri, and Justice Minister Germán Garavano in a 2018 press conference following the cancellation of two soccer championships due to hooligan violence.

All three are alleged to have instead used security and intelligence services to pressure judges and prosecutors - be they perceived allies or adversaries.

These cases are likely to figure more prominently next year, after Macri became the first president in Argentine history to lose re-election.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Stunning article, sandensea. Hoping so hard the last sentence will be absolutely prophetic.

If only more legal books could be written in the interim to throw at the whole raft of Macri and allies.

Had no choice but to stop and look for images of each ally mentioned in the article as I came across him. What a hard-faced, nasty looking group of criminals they are. It would be so right for someone to put them together in rows for a group photo of them all, so many of them admirers of the military dictatorship which benefited their relatives and made them rich earlier in history. No doubt it was their awareness of how that dictatorship operated which made it seem so possible to do it all over again.

God only knows what pure hell would have been fully unleashed if Macri had not lost this one.

It would be glorious if they started investigating the mechanism which put Macri in power in the first place, now that they have learned he had assistance from allies. It seems far more than possible the whole thing could have been bogus, wouldn't you think? There's no doubt they could have also had assistance from fascists in other countries, covertly, because as it's so easy to see, they are determined to wipe the left wing off the face of the earth, one way or another. They almost accomplished that already in so many places.

Had never heard he was going to be the first President of Argentina to never be re-elected! Hope he will have a long time to savor his record-breaking achievement. I guess he'll be moving to Europe A.S.A.P., to avoid arrest.

(You recall Fujimori called from Japan, where he was "visiting" to retire from his job as Peru's President, the same Fujimori who's in prison now.)

Thank you for this article. Surely looking forward to hear more about what is done next about Macri and his accomplices.

[sandensea]

2. Macri's facing 92 cases against him. And in the words of a well-known local political analyst,

"Seven of them are very sensitive - but once you lose power, they all become sensitive."

But what really put him on thin ice is the documented revelation, last month, that he spies on many (probably all) federal judges and prosecutors.

That, they won't soon forget.

On another note, I enjoyed your last post, on 'The Discreet Charm of the IMF' and its recent role in Argentina. Thank you for finding and sharing.

Very accurate, and, I might add, a recommended read for anyone who'd like a nutshell description of the 'Macrisis'.

It also touches on the attitude of many in the middle and upper classes in Argentina, who'd rather be victimized by the IMF (seen as a symbol of the First World) than see anyone do anything to benefit the country as a whole (which they see as undeserving of the time or trouble, even though they live there!).

Macri's (somewhat surprisingly strong) 40% is mostly a reflection of that.

Thanks again, Judi.

P/S: How about Kentucky and Virginia! Dems win both houses of the VA Assembly (1st time since '93); and in Kentucky, Trump bestie Matt Bevin is out.

Good riddance to bad Bevin.