Even though the proposal is for justice to work better, a draft legal project has not been exempt from criticism and rejection by the opposition to the current government of Argentina.
It is a project with which they seek to rearrange the federal justice system, making it more independent, ruled by more transparent regulations and which would carry out processes promptly and efficiently.
With serious discussions in the congressional committees, aiming to reach a judgement for their future debated in both chambers, the proposal, according to the Head of State, Alberto Fernandez, also intends to have a system that does not work for the government in office or in favour of the powerful. Unification and duplication of federal courts, implementation of the accusatory system and the formation of an Advisory Council, are several of the initiative’s aims, harshly questioned by Together for Change, formerly, Cambiemos, the political arm that carried Mauricio Macri to the presidency in 2015.
Since the proposal was announced, the torrent of criticism from the opposition has been immediate and some even indicated that they were seeking impunity with this project, among other arguments.
Fernandez highlighted that the project of judicial reformation is looking for reorganisation that goes far beyond the Comodoro Py courts, established in the capital.
It is a change to the entire national federal justice system, with the aim of it working well, he stated.
Among other objectives, the Congress project for their future debate has a law that orders federal justice across the country, with more prosecutors, more defenders and criminal courts, to unify the financial criminal proceedings and the chambers.
On the other hand, it would transfer the competencies to investigate non-federal crimes committed in their territory to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, pending since the 1994 constitutional reform.
Up for discussion today in the commissions on Constitutional Affairs and Justice and Criminal Affairs of the Senate, the initiative comprises a series of measures that, among other things, would create 121 new positions and 94 courts inside the country.
Inside the committees, the debate is critical. The head of the Together for Change coalition in the lower chamber, Mario Negri, asked the Government to retract the project and start from scratch in the search for consensus.
The President of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs of the Senate, Maria de los Angeles Sacnun, has said that the opposition’s request “is an excuse to not debate”.
“It seems to me that the president opened up a can of worms, not just by showing the project, but also by admitting in its presentation that he himself was open to all the reforms that they would try to incorporate”, she emphasised.
In an exclusive dialogue with members of the Association of Foreign Correspondents, Judge Alberto Huarte Petite, with more than 20 years of experience, explained that judicial reform proposes, among other points, to create more national courts dealing with federal crimes, and the passage of competencies from the national justice system to that of the capital.
“The new procedural code would put a lot of importance on the duties of the prosecutors and the ministry has the option to organise prosecutors specialised in the issue, which would allow them to establish protocols, generate criteria more quickly, to bring a case of domestic violence to trial”. (PL)
(Translated by Donna Davison – Email: donna_davison@hotmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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