Isn't this the same judge that raided the COG homes in 1993? Seems he's lost his job.
Changes in the Justice System: Court number 1 of San Isidro is vacant
Federal Judge Marquevich was removed from office
La Nacion, Buenos Aires Argentina, June 9 2004
The motion was supported by 7 of the 9 members; he was charged with prejudice and harassment of the direction of the Clarín newspaper
a.. The now ex-magistrate had arbitrarily detained Ernestina Herrera de Noble
b.. In the opinión of the tribunal, he acted without any proof and therefore without impartiality
The judging Tribunal definitively sealed the fate of Roberto Marquevich yesterday: seven of the nine members of the panel removed him from his
office as federal judge of Court number one in San Isidro.
The Council of the Magistrature, through its counselors, which acted as prosecutors, Senator Jorge Yoma and lawyer Luis Pereira Duarte, had accused the ex-magistrate on three counts: the arbitrary detention of Mrs. Ernestina Herrera de Noble; the arbitrary denial for her release, and for denying her the benefit of house arrest.
The Tribunal found him responsible for the first charges, for which they removed him from office for "improperly discharging his office."
The verdict was read in the Audience Hall of the Palace of Justice, on the bottom floor of the building. Marquevich did not attend, but was represented by the public attorney.
Marquevich, who was an examining magistrate in the '80s, was promoted to the office of federal judge, by decree of the president at that time, Carlos Menem. The competency of the federal office he held covered a broad territory, including the presidential mansion in Olivos. Rumor has it that in April and May of this year, he had traveled twice to Santiago, Chile via
Brazil, to seek the help of the former president. Marquevich denies this.
Scandalous Detention
For many years, Marquevich's actions precipitated severe criticisms, but the Council of the Magistrature incomprehensibly omitted to bring him to trial in December 2001. At that time, Menemism, under which even yesterday the Judge sought refuge, had the hope that Memen would be re-elected as president.
But the detention of Mrs. Herrera de Noble in December 2002, not only merited the criticism of almost every social sector, but was not approved by Federal Prosecutor Rita Molina, nor by the Federal Appeal's Court of San Martin, a court that has always questioned the Judge, and revoked the arrest.
One year later, last December, the Council decided to prosecute Marquevich and suspended him. Although the organization constructed a weak accusation, only charging him with three of the eight charges that were originally formulated, it was enough for an overwhelming majority of the members to vote against him during the audience held yesterday in a court of the Federal Appeals Court.
The grounds
The votes that comprise the position of the majority maintain:
a.. The trial of a judge is a political trial.
b.. Marquevich acted with "evident bias and disdain for the norms that
enshrine freedom of mobility
c.. Since 1995, several denunciations have been formulated for the supposed appropriation of the children of Mrs. Herrera de Noble, and all were dismissed and archived, even by Marquevich. "Nevertheless, on April 30
2001, based on the same incident, Marquevich ostentatiously began his investigation. It was a radical and inexplicable change," states the
decision.
2.. The court found a number of procedural irregularities.
a.. "The bias of the judge was evidenced in the arbitrary order of the detention of Hererra de Noble, straying from the rules of the Procedural
Code," sustained the decision, which LA NACION had access to.
b.. The crime for which Marquevich accused the director of Clarin (for having incurred in a deception in the birth certificates of her children)had prescribed and could no longer be investigated. The judge, however, in order to reopen the case, "without any proof", tied the adoption of the children of Herrera de Noble to the kidnapping of children that occurred under the last military government. In this manner, he intended to continue the investigation. "It was abusive," stated the decision.
c.. It is not appropriate to detain a person in order to question them. "The detention and denial of release were manifestly disproportionate
decisions and evidence that the judge had exercised his faculties in an unreasonable and arbitrary fashion."
Criticisms of the Council
Several of members of the panel harshly criticized the Council for having reduced the number of charges from eight to three.
"The new system of membership of the Council, with the representation of various states, was established with the declared intention of transparency and objectivity. Nevertheless, if in this new procedure, corporate interests, political influence, lack of civic criteria, and interests at cross purposes reappear, it is an assault against the system itself."