Eugenio Zaffaroni will no longer be a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni has the days counted in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I / A Court HR). So he could know Infobae from sources linked to the Government, who specified that it is decided that the lawyer will not renew the mandate representing Argentina in the highest international criminal court based in The Hague. His term in that position expires next April.

Just a few weeks ago, Zaffaroni was denounced by the deputy Elisa “Lilita” Carrió and the members of his space in the Civic Coalition. There “Lilita” called for impeachment for Zaffaroni, for having signed a request entitled “With Lawfare there is no democracy” where the pardon was requested for the former vice president Beloved Boudou, after the Supreme Court of Justice ratified his sentence for corruption to five years and eight months in the Ciccone case.

Boudou’s defense plans to go to international courts and, in the opinion of Carrió’s deputies, the judge “is influencing his colleagues on the Inter-American Court.” Boudou and Zaffaroni’s friendship is not new. In fact, the then vice president was photographed with the then judge in 2013 on a birthday together. And in 2019, Zaffaroni had come forward as an “amicus curae” in the Ciccone case.

It is not the first time that the role of the criminal prosecutor in the Inter-American Court has been questioned. The former Minister of Justice of the macrismo Germán Garavano He had asked that court that Zaffaroni not give an opinion on a ruling regarding the impeachment of the presidents of the region. It was after Zaffaroni publicly said that he wanted the government of Mauricio Macri to “leave before” power without fulfilling its mandate.

Is that, for years, Zaffaroni does not hide his support for Vice President Cristina Kirchner, He defends her from the criminal proceedings against him and, at this time, demands an extension of the Supreme Court of Justice, in line with the official intentions.

Zaffaroni turned 81 years ago a few weeks ago. He celebrated by zoom with greetings from the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, the Jujuy leader Milagro Sala and the former president of Bolivia Evo Morales -who he legally advised after the coup in 2019-. But the Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity also participated Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, the auditors of the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI), Cristina Caamaño; and the Penitentiary Service, Maria Laura Garrigós; the Cassation Chambermaids Alejandro Slokar and Ana María Figueroa, the defender general Stella Maris Martinez and the former attorney general Alejandra Gils Carbo.

The former judge of the Court, Raúl Eugenio Zaffaroni, together with Cristina Kirchner (Télam) 

Zaffaroni served as minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation between 2003 and 2014 and retired when he turned 75 to fulfill the constitutional mandate that establishes that age limit. To the position in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, he arrived in 2015 at the proposal of the government of Cristina Kirchner for the period 2016-2022. His name was already recognized internationally, where his criminology works and his doctorates “honoris causa” in more than 30 Latin American universities stand out.

But now, after four years as a member of the Inter-American Court, his mandate expires in April. And in official sources it transpired that the Government will not insist on running for him. On whether this was a decision by the jurist himself or by the Casa Rosada, several versions emerged, but none were confirmed. However, names have already begun to circulate to replace him.

As he could know Infobae, among the candidates mentioned is the lawyer Veronica Gomez, Director of Research, Teaching and Communication of the International Center for Political Studies of the National University of San Martín and who was a legal advisor at the Center for Justice and International Law. Among her scrolls, she appears to have been president of the Global Campus on Human Rights – an initiative that brings together universities and study centers from around the world – and to have served as Principal Specialist in the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She also worked as an advisor to the General Directorate of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Commerce and Worship of the Republic of Argentina in the Kichnerism.

The second candidate mentioned is the lawyer Fabian Salvioli, professor in human rights and with a doctorate in Legal Sciences and a Master in International Relations. He is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition since 2018.

As highlighted, Salvioli is a professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Law School of the University of La Plata, where he is also Director of the Master’s Program in Human Rights and Director of the Institute of Human Rights. He was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights between 2009 and 2016, and as a lawyer, he has litigated cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In this position, he presented the first amicus curiae brief on the right to the truth before the Inter-American Court.