UN admonishes Argentina's Macri for judicial interference

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.