MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Almost 92% of Chileans disapprove of country's Judiciary

Hermosilla's proven link in a corruption case to a Supreme Court judge dealt a heavy blow to public perception of the Judiciary

A survey released Sunday in Santiago showed that nearly 92% of Chileans disapproved of their country's Judiciary. The Plaza Pública Cadem study was conducted amid the corruption scandal involving criminal lawyer Luis Hermosilla and various magistrates and officials from former President Sebastián Piñera's administration (2018-2022).

Hermosilla is in pre-trial detention for money laundering, bribery, and tax fraud, while Supreme Court Justice Ángela Vivanco -already under suspension- faces a constitutional accusation, which could result in her permanent removal. In addition, former Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick has been summoned to testify as a defendant.

When asked about reforming the Judiciary, 57% of those interviewed considered that the most important thing was the Criminal Procedure Reform to strengthen public security while 46% thought there should be a change in the system of appointing judges and 26% in that of prosecutors.

Most Chileans also favored reducing the duration and costs of access to Justice for ordinary citizens.

The Government of President Gabriel Boric Font announced this month a proposal to reform the Judiciary to tackle conflicts of interest and influence peddling.

The 61-year-old Vivanco has been proven to have talked on the telephone with Hermosilla in what became known as the “audios case.” The magistrate had been appointed to her bench in 2018 under Piñera. Also under investigation are Vivanco's fellow Supreme Court Justices Jean Pierre Matus and Sergio Muñoz.

It is widely believed that such a large-scale corruption affair has seriously jeopardized the country's Judiciary by undermining people's perception of what “equal before the law” actually means.

Cadem's poll also found that 34% of the Chileans still had a positive image of Boric and 57% were unhappy with his performance at the country's helm, which showed little to no variation from the previous week.