The situation of the Viedma labor judge Gustavo Guerra Labayén was very compromised after the suspension ordered by the Judicial Council and a new audit request due to a recent ruling that could lead to another accusation against him. The request for investigation also affects the rest of the members of the court: Rolando Gaitán and Carlos Marcelo Valverde.
The motion by legislator and advisor of the ruling party Lucas Pica had the support of the Bar Association and was sufficient to automatically dictate the provisional suspension of the magistrate. Deputy Juan Martín not only did not support the proposal, But he called it “excessive” and “reckless.” the decision to remove the judge from his role. The suspension will remain in force until the ongoing investigation is defined. Judge Luján Ignazi also voted against and in line with Martín, she said that it was an exaggerated measure.
Pica had already made the same proposal on March 15 when proceedings began against Guerra Labayén, accused of delaying sentences in the jurisdiction. A complaint promoted by the Bar Association of the Rio Negro capital at the end of last year.
At that time the motion was not supported. But what changed in two months? Pica’s argument was the same: the health of the justice system in the face of the social impact of the complaint against the judge. This time The College did accompany, as did the president of the STJ and head of the Judiciary, Sergio Ceci. with the condition that they let him appoint a substitute judge to avoid harming the justice system.
“This is not a sanction or a sentence, it is a constitutional tool which healthily allows the actions to continue where Mr. Guerra Labayén will be able to assume all of his time to prepare his defense,” said Pica, who reinforced that the initial request was made in March.
The accusations leveled by the Viedma Labor Chamber against registration lawyers in the “Ruíz ruling” may have possibly had an influence. With the guiding vote of Labayén and the support of Gaitán and Valverde, The judges used a case involving a work accident to expose possible incompatibilities in the functions of several lawyers.
At this point, the tension between the magistrate and part of the enrollment that Viedma is litigating is undeniable, perhaps the most active jurisdiction of the Judiciary in the Rio Negro capital. Even Martín himself stated it in his argument for rejecting the suspension. He said that the judge was wrong, but that it was not fair to “go all out” against his function.
That was the second motion presented by Pica, who requested that the court’s actions in the “Ruíz file” be investigated to determine whether an ethical and unconstitutional fault was incurred by the three judges. This time there was no opposition – there were abstentions – and even Martín accompanied the actions that will be referred to the auditor Juan Manuel Montoto Guerrero. “In this case, legislator Pica’s proposal has merit.” Finally, the actions are due to three rulings issued by the Viedma Labor Chamber.
Who replaces Guerra Labayén?
After the suspension was defined, Ceci requested that the vacancy be covered with the authorization by the Judicial Council of a substitute judge and proposed that it could be the current electoral judge, Carlos Da Silva, who was rapporteur of the STJ in that jurisdiction, or – in case of impossibility – a secretary of the Labor Chamber.
He explained that the Civil Chamber – natural replacement – only has two chambermaids due to the retirement of Sandra Filipuzzi and this forced an emergency regime, with first instance judges. He added that the immediate definition of a substitute judge will allow the justice service to be fulfilled. The decision was unanimously supported.
