OFF THE CUFF: Judicial talk comes easier than action

WHEN TOP representatives of the judiciary met last Friday to listen to the concerns of civil society over the administration of justice, no one asked the magistrate Luis Ramon Fabrega about the status of the mysterious 120-15 file.

Fabrega, current vice-president of the Supreme Court (CSJ) who does not hide his aspirations of running the show, was one of the most vocal of those facing  the Independent Movement (Movin) and other figures of civil society and representatives of business associations, who, in an unprecedented move, went to the Court  at the invitation of the presiding Judge Jose Ayu Prado.

Judge  Fabrega was the loudest voice among his peers to support, with no restrictions, the claims of civil society. He praised the efforts of colleague  Harley Mitchell, pushing  in the National Assembly a bill whose purpose is for  judges have fixed times to resolve the hundreds of cases handled by the Supreme Court.

Rumors of approval were heard from those attending says La Estrella, But apparently everyone was unaware of the existence of file 120-15.

It turns out that the lawyer Ruben Garcia Paredes was dismissed last February, from his position as general secretary of the Administrative Court of Public Contracting (TACP). The dismissal was approved by two of the three judges of the collegiate office: Manuel Cupas and Anabelle Padilla, whose terms have already expired, but, inexplicably, the Executive has not moved to declare their replacements . The third judge, Zaira de Latorraca, saved her vote.

Garcia Paredes has filed recourse of Protection of Constitutional Guarantees before the Supreme Court. The case was awarded to Harley Mitchel, who proceeded immediately to order the suspension of the decision but the magistrates Padilla and Cupas did not obey the court order.

Although the final resolution of the case 120-15 (which favors Garcia Paredes) now has eight signatures of the plenary of the Supreme Court to support Mitchell’s moves, for over two months the case follows  the “sleep of the just” in Fabrega’s office, who has warned that he is against the majority and therefore he is going to write a dissenting opinion says La Estrella

This 120-15 record has been subject to various procedural impulses to speed up the processes. Mitchell echoed these repeated requests, to the point that he sent his colleague Fabrega three notes, with conciliatory tones, asking the judge to honor the words that he used so  firmly on  Friday before members of organized civil society.