Advances in the selection of candidates to fill two vacant positions at the Court and the Attorney General's Office

While all eyes were riveted this week on the Supreme Court of the nation, Today, the public hearing will be held in the Legislative Assembly of Buenos Aires. or Candidates will be nominated to fill two vacancies in the City Superior Court of Justice. – the equivalent of the local court and the position of Attorney General of the Public Prosecutor.

The candidates proposed by the head of government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, to be part of the Superior Court of Justice are: Santiago Otamendi, currently Secretary of Justice of the Department of Justice and Human Rights of the Nation, and Marcela Vivian De Langhe, judge since 2003 to the chamber of minor offenses, tickets and offenses of the city.

While to cover the post of Attorney General was proposed Juan Bautista MahiquesUndersecretary for Prison Affairs and Representative of the Executive Branch of the Judicial Council of the Nation.

Otamendi and Mahiques both received Challenges of different NGOs, as the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) and the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP) "considering that they do not meet the requirement of fitness nor do they offer the necessary guarantees of independence to pay the charges for which they are proposed"

For its part, Active memory He also questioned Otamendi about the actions of the Justice Ministry in the lawsuit for concealing the AMIA bombing.

"Otamendi and Mahiques are officials of great confidence of the politico-judicial table of the national executive, which has the same political color as the city government, and they came to his position by a political designation and not by contestation, "he warned. Renzo Lavin, co-director of ACIJ, before Infobae.

"Although there is a margin of discretion which offers candidates to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court and the Attorney General, is the discretion absolute? Can you put somebody? At a minimum, they must be adapted. And U.S We also question the suitability of these two officials. None of them is a specialist in law and his academic career is not remarkable, nor distinguished by his training. We believe that they are chosen for their political sympathy, not for being the best"he added.

Opinion in favor of the Ethics Committee

The three candidates have an opinion of the Ethics Committee, Conventions and Control Bodies of the Legislative Assembly of the city, chaired by the Vice President of Buenos Aires. Eduardo Santamarina, and include Ariel Álvarez Palma, Agustín Forchieri, Guillermo Suárez, Christian Bauab, Claudio Romero and Daniel Presti, all from the port of Cambiemos, Vamos Juntos; María Rosa Muiños, from the Peronist Bloc; Javier Andrade, Citizen Unity; Marcelo Guouman, of evolution; and Marcelo Defiero, from Best City.

"We have made room for criticisms that have come down to us, we have taken them into account, but that does not mean that we share them. Their status as a civil servant does not prevent them, in accordance with the law, from joining the Supreme Court or baduming the duties of Attorney General", he maintained in dialogue with Infobae Santamarina

The public hearing will begin at 2:00 pm, in the Golden Hall of the Legislature, at a joint meeting of the members of the Ethics Committee and the Justice Commission, chaired by the pro-government MP from Presti. The rest of the deputies who wish to be present, as well as the neighbors in general, can participate because The audience is an example of consultation and citizen participation prior to the approval of its specifications by the Legislative Assembly.

Candidates will have five minutes to do a solo exhibition, followed by representatives from organizations that have presented challenges. Candidates will have an additional five minutes to respond orally or in writing.

Once completed, the members of the Ethics Committee and the Justice Commission will meet to agree on a resolution approving – or not – the names of the candidates. This decision It must then be voted in plenary session of the legislature by a special two-thirds majority, ie 40 votes out of 60.

In principle, decision – with the votes of Evolución (by Martín Lousteau) – I would have the 40 needed to approve the candidates proposed by Rodríguez Larreta, for whom I would not need votes from Kirchner.

"If the audience is the moment to evaluate candidates with citizen participation, in the vast majority of cases,Political agreements are closed in advance"Provided Lavin.

However, there was a precedent in which the candidate proposed by the Buenos Aires Executive to the highest judicial instance of the city, Daniela Ugolini, had not obtained the necessary votes in plenary. It was in 2010, when Mauricio Macri was at the head of the government of Buenos Aires.

Challenges in Otamendi

Regarding Otamendi, ACIJ, CELS and INECIP questioned the fact that "the candidate is currently a senior political official reporting directly to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights of the Nation – who was in turn a partner of his law firm – and that actively participates in proselytism campaigns of the ruling party's "timbreos" campaign– "

For these reasons, they considered thatthe proximity of the candidate with the governing party at both national and city level may condition his actions at the exercise of the post, preventing the resolution of their affairs without restrictions and without influences. This conflict is reinforced by taking into account the fact that, if it performs the function it aspires to, many of the causes that need to be resolved are the responsibility of the municipal government. "

The NGOs also warned that "the badysis of their curriculum vitae shows that the candidate does not have the academic training and career necessary to occupy a more important position in the judicial structure of the city of Buenos Aires".

While acknowledging that Otamendi had experience as a trial judge at the Court of Offenses and Offenses No. 27, "to be appointed to this post, he participated in a competition before the City Council of the Judiciary, in which he was selected, ranked 33rd in order of merit, far from the top places, nor did he have any academic training or exceptional production in his program, and the functions he has held in recent years hold political appointments.

Consulted by Infobae, Otamendi pointed out that has been a judge of the city since 2005, in use of the license, and which "never had a summary". "I was not challenged either, and when I had to control myself, I. Institutional jurisdictions are planned, if necessary, "he added.

He also pointed out that since he was the Secretary of Justice of the nation, he has been dealing with "technical issues" because of his knowledge of provincial judges. "Although this is a management position, the decisions I made were in accordance with the law and with serenity."

And in this sense, he added: "I see as a force the fact of having crossed the executive, because it gives you another angle in the vision of things. no article of the law says that to be a member of the Supreme Court, one could not be a civil servant"And he recalled the case of a member of the current Court, whose statement was approved by the Senate, who was also justice minister of the previous government, without naming it, he made reference to Horacio Rosatti .

Active memory he also arrested him because, in the performance of his duties as secretary of justice, "he participated directly in the scandalous maneuver of this portfolio to cover the criminal liability of former prosecutors of the AMIA case, Eamon Mullen and José Barbaccia, accused of diverting the investigation from the terrorist attack.

In dismissing this charge, Otamendi claimed that the complaint about this – made by the AMIA unit owner, Mario Cimadevilla, and by former automobile reductionist Carlos Teilledín – was dismissed by the prosecutor, Carlos Rívolo and filed by Judge Luis Rodríguez.

He also pointed out that the AMIA unit did not depend on him in the Ministry's organizational chart and that "his only two acts" had been "on the express indication of the Minister of Justice, who was not not at that time in the country ".

The interrogation of Mahiques

ACIJ, CELS and INECIP have criticized Mahiques for considering that the under-secretariat for prison affairs in charge is under the Ministry of Justice, in charge of Otamendi. "That means who Today, his direct superior could become one of the judges before which Mahics should plead. in case the proposed designations are confirmed ", they warned.

In this regard, they noted that "in addition to the lack of training, technicians or academics necessary to occupy a position of such importance, the candidate does not have the autonomy and independence required well run the Attorney General's Office ".

Finally, they warned that "organizations like Human Rights Watch They denounced his recent performance – as a representative of the executive branch of the Judiciary Council – in the indictment process of the judge responsible for investigating the undue connections between the judiciary and the intelligence services in the country. . "the case of Alessio", which they considered as an attack on the independence of justice ".

In the official environment, they pointed out that "he has never played in any political party and has developed his entire career in the judiciary since the age of 19"

After pointing out that "the law does not preclude the exercise of state power, "warned that" they are different roles "and that the position of Attorney General" is the head of an independent power responsible for the criminal policy of the city ".

CELS, meanwhile, also interviewed him "lack of gender perspective"Near Mahiques rejected this accusation and pointed out that it was the undersecretary of penitentiary affairs who had entrusted for the first time to the direction of the unit Ezeiza a woman and that" of the five speeches he directs, three are in post. the hands of women. "

The antecedents of the candidates

Marcela Vivian De Langhe She is a lawyer at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), a specialist in public security and criminal law. He has studied international postgraduate courses in Italy, the United States and Spain and is a PhD Candidate in Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences from the Faculty of Law Sciences of the Universidad del Salvador.

The judge De Langhe, with Otamendi (left) and Martín Ocampo

Since 2003, she has been a judge in the Criminal, Offending and Tort Laws of the City. Previously, she was a safeguards judge of the San Isidro Judicial Department, Province of Buenos Aires. He received 524 accessions and no objections.

Santiago Otamendi He is a lawyer at the Catholic University of Argentina and holds a postgraduate thesis in criminal law, also from the UCA. He completed the executive program in administration and judicial modernization of Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain.

He was a judge of first instance in criminal, judicial and misconduct of the City in charge of the Tribunal No. 27 from 1 December 2005, under license use. On December 10, 2015, he was appointed Secretary of Justice of the Department of Justice and Human Rights of the Nation.

He has served as Chair, Vice Chair and Executive Committee Chair of the International Financial Action Group – FATF – and a member of the Executive Committee Steering Group from July 1, 2018 to the present day. In addition, he was Secretary General of the Access to Justice and Human Rights of the Public Prosecutor of the City of Buenos Aires (2012-2014) and Director of the Judicial Council of Buenos Aires ( 2010-2012). Otamendi received 534 accessions and two challenges.

Juan Bautista Mahiques is a lawyer with the UBA and Magister in Administration of Justice at the Università Degli Studi Dima Unitelma Sapiens. He joined the judiciary in 2004.

He is Under-Secretary for Prison and Judicial Relations at the Ministry of Justice of the Nation and Advisor Advisor to the National Executive at the Judicial Council of the country, and Alternate Member of the Court of Public Prosecutions of the country. . . He is also representative of the Council of the Nation before the bicameral Commission to monitor and implement the new Code of Criminal Procedure of the nation.

Previously, he was legal secretary of the Judicial Council of the country, secretary of the prosecution court of the country and secretary of the criminal court of first instance No. 17 (2010 to 2014). He was a professor of criminal law at UBA and UCA. His proposal received 506 accessions and a challenge.