MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine lawmaker threatens appeals judges with impeachment

Civil appeals court judges de las Carreras and Ms Najurieta warned by Senator Marcelo Fuentes (Photo Perfil)

An Argentine Senator from the ruling coalition warned that judges who upheld an injunction request made by the media group Clarín on Thursday could be impeached.

One day after “7D,” the Kirchnerite Senator Marcelo Fuentes (Victory Front-Neuquén) warned civil appeals court judges Francisco de las Carreras and María Susana Najurieta, that they could face impeachment “not for having extended (the injunction requested by Clarín), but because the rules of the due legal process have been violated.”

Fuentes, who heads the Upper House’s Institutional Affairs Committee, said that the national government has filed “criminal charges against the whole (civil) appeals court due to the irregular weekly rotation system of judges, something that leads to a lack of impartiality.

“If the judges want to govern or legislate though their rulings, that sparks a conflict of powers that is solved by the National Congress via an impeachment,” Fuentes said in remarks to a Buenos Aires radio.

To promote an impeachment the government needs two thirds of the votes of the 13 members of the Council of Magistrates. Some government attempts in previous cases have failed to gather the necessary votes in the judiciary watchdog.

The government had set Friday, “7D,” as the deadline for Clarín group to divest its “monopoly” after a recent Supreme Court ruling said the injunction expired on that date. Argentine government officials called the civil court ruling “an uprising” against democracy.

Last Friday the government of President Cristina Fernandez filed an appeal before the Supreme Court under the recently passed per saltum proceeding. Per saltum allows the top Court to by-pass a series of lower court instances.

The Court is expected to consider this week whether it decides to accept the case according to per saltum proceedings. Clarín on Friday formally asked the Court to throw out the CFK administration per saltum request. The Court rejected Clarín’s request saying it was “inadmissible

Likewise the head of the Argentine Federal Authority of Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA) Martín Sabbatella said that so far the balance of the Media Law enforcement is positive because “all media groups presented their disinvestment plans, except for Clarín.”

The official also remarked that “Argentina needs to witness the triumph of democracy over corporate interests.”

“The main goal for December 7 was to have all media conglomerates submitting their disinvestment plans before the end of the day and it were met, except for one group.”

Asked about what will happen to media groups that have no injunction to protect them, Sabbatella said, ”We have not taken a decision yet, but what we expect is that the Supreme Court can resolve this as quickly as possible as we consider truly outrageous the judges’ uphold to the injunction.

Former president and currently Senator, Carlos Menem also joined the debate and said that President Cristina Fernández manages the country “with success,” although he recommended to “evenly” exercise power, because if not leaders “turn into real tyrants”.