La Libertad Avanza to seek impeachment of judge who suspended juvenile criminal law

La Libertad Avanza in Buenos Aires province will seek the political impeachment of Judge Marta Elba Pascual, who suspended the new Juvenile Criminal Regime for 60 days. The libertarian party, led in the province by Sebastián Pareja, announced the move after Pascual halted the law’s application.

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It is a judge of power, of Buenos Aires politics, who thinks exclusively about the interests of the worst of politics.

The party said the ruling “attacks a law passed by the National Congress and deepens the impunity suffered by the people of Buenos Aires,” according to a statement. Pareja accused Pascual of trying to block legislation approved democratically and demanded by society.

“She is a judge of power, of Buenos Aires politics, who thinks exclusively about the interests of the worst of politics,” Pareja said. He linked the magistrate to the provincial government and claimed that officials “will always find an excuse that allows them to free criminals.” He also accused them of protecting offenders rather than victims.

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They will always find an excuse that allows them to free criminals.

Pascual issued the suspension on Monday, only 48 hours after the law took effect. The ruling postponed the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14. It followed a collective preventive habeas corpus petition filed by Federación Familia Grande Hogar de Cristo, whose president is the priest José María Di Paola, known as Father Pepe, on behalf of adolescents deprived of their liberty.

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A judge who acts as a pawn of the governor does not meet the basic requirements that a judge must have.

According to the ruling, Pascual focused on whether the province had the capacity and infrastructure to implement the change approved by Congress more than six months earlier. The court cited inspections at a socioeducational detention center in Lomas de Zamora, where authorities had already imposed a limit of 60 adolescents because minimum standards were not being met. The judge acknowledged improvements in buildings, drinking water and food, but said persistent deficiencies remained. Pareja said the party would begin impeachment proceedings because, in his view, a judge who acts as “a pawn of the governor” does not meet the basic requirements of judicial office.

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The state must resolve whether it can expand the universe of adolescents subject to the criminal responsibility system without creating the material, institutional and professional conditions indispensable for meeting the constitutional and conventional standards governing any deprivation of liberty during adolescence.