ALBA Solidarity With Nicaragua
Panama Canal Transit Slips 1.4 Percent
Honduras to Sue Otto Reich
Elections For New
Magistrates Can Make Or Break Guatemala's
Justice System
Elections For
New Magistrates Can Make Or Break
Guatemala's Justice System
By, Renzo Rosal, Barbara Schieber,
Guatemala-Times.com
Guatemala - In Guatemala's long struggle to
establish a transparent and efficient legal
system, the upcoming elections of new
magistrates for the Guatemalan Supreme Court
and the Guatemalan Appellant Courts are of
paramount importance. Never before has this
process been as important and relevant as it
is at this particular moment in Guatemala's
history.
The current context of infiltration of
organized crime in political parties, the
congress, the courts and other elements of
Guatemala's justice system and law
enforcement agencies are the reason why the
new magistrates of the Supreme Court and the
Appellant Courts need to be apolitical,
independent and not tainted by undesirable
associations. If the current efforts of the
country to fight organized crime are to have
any chance of succeeding, these courts must
be a beacon of transparency and credibility.
The History of the Supreme Court and the
Appellant Courts in Guatemala.
Before Guatemala's new constitution was
written in 1986, the process of elections of
new magistrates for the Supreme Court and
the Appellant Courts was a "black box".
Nobody really knew how the magistrates where
elected. There where no procedures or norms,
just negotiations behind closed doors by
representatives of the political parties. A
direct consequence of this procedure was the
extreme politization of the process. The
magistrates usually had political
commitments to the party that got them
elected; therefore there was no real
independence between the legislative,
executive and judicial branches of
government.
The new Constitution of 1986 included a
legally defined process of nomination and
election of the magistrates. They included 3
new actors in the nomination commission who
where non-political, independent, with
academic credentials and credibility:
Guatemalan Lawyers Association, The Deans of
Law Schools of the Universities of the
country and the Rectors of the Universities
in Guatemala.
The nominations are now presented by 5
different sectors:
1. Guatemalan Lawyers Association
2. The current magistrates of the Supreme
Court
3. The current magistrates of the Appellant
Courts
4. The Deans of Law Schools of the
Universities of the country (9 Universities
have Law schools)
5. The Rectors of the 11 Universities in
Guatemala
These 5 sectors conform two nomination
commissions each, one for the nominations of
magistrates for the Supreme Court and
another commission for the nomination of
magistrates for the Appellant Courts.
Ten years ago there was little debate in the
Guatemalan society about the Supreme Court
and Appellant Courts. Their performance was
not brilliant, but it did not cause alarm
either. They seemed to be functioning at an
acceptable level.
During the last decade however, the
reputation of the Supreme Court, the
Appellant Courts, judges in general and the
Public Ministry have fallen into deep
discredit and ill repute.
Basically many elements of the justice
system would not do their duty to
investigate and convict the criminals. They
could be bought of, bribed, intimidated and
operated as they wished. They are currently
part of organized crime, they represent
powerful sectors of Guatemala that uses the
justice system as they see it fit, not in
accordance with any resemblance of justice
and according to the laws of Guatemala.
The relationship between justice and
security is inseparable. If the police
forces are improving their capacity to catch
criminals and the courts then set them free,
the system becomes a joke. The trust of the
public is betrayed and the security
situation can not improve.
The nominations process of the magistrates
by the 5 different sectors worked well for a
while. Then the dark forces figured out how
to influence this process to. They directed
their effort at each one of the sectors that
can nominate candidates for magistrate.
In the Guatemalan Lawyers Association, they
influence the election of the President and
Board of Directors for the period when
magistrates are nominated. It is easy to buy
votes and influence the lawyers to support a
certain candidate as the new President of
the Association.
The magistrates of the Supreme Court and the
magistrates of the Appellant Courts are also
subject to the same manipulation and
influences, so are the Deans and Rectors of
the Universities.
In short, the nomination process that will
start in May 2009, has to be watched and
monitored by all sectors of the Guatemalan
society like hawks. Especial attention needs
to be paid to this important event that can
make or break the Guatemalan justice system.
|
|
|
|
|
