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Guatemalan Congress refuses to appoint graft-fighting top judge
Source: Reuters
EMERGING MARKETS
APRIL 13, 2021 10:51 PM UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Guatemalan Congress refuses to appoint graft-fighting top judge
By Sofia Menchu
4 MIN READ
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -Guatemala’s Congress refused to appoint a graft-fighting judge as president of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, a move critics say could set back the fight against corruption.
Magistrate Gloria Porras is one of Central America’s leading figures in the fight for the rule of law and efforts to combat impunity. However, she has long drawn the ire of some politicians and business groups for decisions at the court they consider to be anti-investment.
Over her decade on the bench, Porras voted against the expulsion of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body; against the decision to vacate ex-dictator Efraín Rios Montt’s genocide conviction; and in favor of the rights of indigenous people to be consulted about extractive projects built in their territory.
“It’s clear to me that there is collusion to not let me take up the seat. I have been an independent judge, and being an independent judge in this country brings this type of action,” she told reporters while leaving the Congressional building.
Congress President Allan Rodriguez said that Porras and another magistrate could not join the newly-formed bench for its five-year term because of open legal challenges against them.
-snip-
APRIL 13, 2021 10:51 PM UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Guatemalan Congress refuses to appoint graft-fighting top judge
By Sofia Menchu
4 MIN READ
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -Guatemala’s Congress refused to appoint a graft-fighting judge as president of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, a move critics say could set back the fight against corruption.
Magistrate Gloria Porras is one of Central America’s leading figures in the fight for the rule of law and efforts to combat impunity. However, she has long drawn the ire of some politicians and business groups for decisions at the court they consider to be anti-investment.
Over her decade on the bench, Porras voted against the expulsion of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption body; against the decision to vacate ex-dictator Efraín Rios Montt’s genocide conviction; and in favor of the rights of indigenous people to be consulted about extractive projects built in their territory.
“It’s clear to me that there is collusion to not let me take up the seat. I have been an independent judge, and being an independent judge in this country brings this type of action,” she told reporters while leaving the Congressional building.
Congress President Allan Rodriguez said that Porras and another magistrate could not join the newly-formed bench for its five-year term because of open legal challenges against them.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-guatemala-courts/guatemalan-congress-refuses-to-appoint-graft-fighting-top-judge-idUSKBN2C109R
