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Thursday, August 29, 2024

Mexico Could Implement 'Faceless Judges' for Organized Crime Cases

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat


The judicial reform promoted by Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party, Morena is generating controversy, protests and strikes by judicial workers. The most talked about issue has been the proposal that all judges be elected by direct vote at the polls. 

But this week a new factor of controversy has been added. Morena and its allies in the Chamber of Deputies approved the inclusion in the initiative of anonymous judges in order to protect judges who handle cases of organized crime. It is a measure with noble aims but has given rise to abuses that civil associations and international organizations have documented and denounced, as it violates the right to a trial before an independent, impartial and suitable court.


The figure of 'faceless judges' was incorporated into the official initiative on the recommendation of López Obrador himself, who in his morning press conference on August 20 said that it was necessary to include a "kind of protection" for judges who handle organized crime cases. "A mechanism where authorities make decisions without it being known, to find a way that can be done, because many are subject to threats, to pressure," said the president. 

This Monday, during the vote on the initiative in the House of Representatives committees, it was approved to modify the opinion with the presidential recommendation.  The reform now establishes that, for cases of organized crime, the Judicial Administration Body - newly created - "may arrange the necessary measures to preserve the security and protect the identity of the judges."

The use of anonymous judges was first promoted in Mexico by former President Felipe Calderón, the architect of the war on drugs. In 2010, the former PAN leader asked Congress for a legal amendment to incorporate this figure into the Mexican legal system, not only to protect judges, but also police officers, prosecutors and witnesses, so that they could file complaints or testify in court without being exposed to revenge from criminals. The petition, which was unsuccessful, was in contrast to the push that Mexico was giving to oral trials, a more agile and transparent model of justice. Many studies place the birth of the spiral that has plunged Mexico into the endless violence of organized crime in the Calderon era, when the government launched a frontal offensive against the cartels.

López Obrador's judicial reform is ready to be approved by the full House of Representatives, where the new legislature will take office next Sunday. Morena and its allies from the PVEM and the PT have the qualified majority to approve changes to the Constitution without having to negotiate with the opposition, reduced to political irrelevance. Former President Calderón is days away from seeing one of his wishes fulfilled in a legislature dominated by the block aligned with López Obrador.

While it is unknown the total number of threats and bribery federal judges in Mexico have seen, very few judges have been assassinated since the beginning of the Drug War in compared to other political and law enforcement officials.

In the period from 2001 till 2020, a total of 5 federal judges were killed, two of those five occurred since 2016. In recent years, two judges have been reported killed, one by gunmen and the other by their partner in an act of domestic violence.

Countless scores of police officers, politicians and other figures have been killed by cartels and organized crime groups in Mexico since that time. 

Faceless Judges in Other Countries

“This type of court was created in Italy, where it was implemented for trials against local Mafias,” read Deputy Lidia García Anaya, of Morena, when proposing the modification to the initiative. “These are bodies where the judges are anonymous, with the objective of safeguarding their integrity and also that of their families,” she added. The mechanism of anonymous judges exists in Brazil, Colombia and Peru and has been used mainly to combat guerrillas, drug trafficking organizations stemming from the violent era of Pablo Escobar and terrorists including Shining Path members in Peru. 


In 1992, prosecutor Giovanni Falcone was blown up by a bomb planted beneath a motorway near Palermo by the Sicilian Mafia, Cosa Nostra. It killed him, his wife and three police officers. His colleague Paolo Borsellino was assassinated by a car bomb two months later.

In Colombia, the anonymous jurist (judge) system was granted under a 1991 decree after drug cartel hit men assassinated several judges. Under the faceless justice system, entire trials have been conducted on paper, the judges signing documents not with a name but with a number.

Colombia's chief prosecutor, Alfonso Gomez, says the system served its purpose. Not a single faceless judge had been murdered since 1991, he said. Between 1979 and 1991, 278 judges and magistrates were killed. Congress let the decree lapse following the arrests of Cali Cartel bosses and the faceless system began to phase out in 1999.
 

With over twenty judges threatened with death and living under police protection, the Rio de Janeiro State Court in 2019 approved the creation of a special circuit court to prosecute cases involving corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering, organized crime, and paramilitary groups. The circuit court would have a group of “faceless judges” prosecuting the cases on a 60 day rotation, instead of a single magistrate overlooking a specific case.


The UN Human Rights Committee has explained that, although the identity of such judges can be verified by an independent authority, the accused is unaware of this and is also unaware of the status of the judges. In addition, the Committee adds, trials with 'faceless judges' often involve other irregularities: exclusion of the public, and even of the accused or his lawyers, from the stages of the trial; restrictions on communication between the accused and his representatives, or on the accused being able to have a lawyer of his choice; insufficient time to prepare the defence; or serious restrictions on summoning or questioning witnesses, for example, the officers responsible for the arrest and interrogation of the accused. "Courts, with or without 'faceless judges', in circumstances such as these, do not satisfy the fundamental standards of a fair trial and in particular the requirement that the court must be independent and impartial," the UN Committee has concluded.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has also issued a ruling against the measure of anonymous judges. The body points out that the remedy prevents defendants from knowing the identity of the judges and therefore from assessing their suitability and competence, as well as determining whether there are grounds for requesting their recusal, which violates Article 8.1 of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights. “Judging by judges of unknown identity does not allow the defendant to question their competence, legality, independence and impartiality,” it said.

44 comments:

  1. That's exactly what mexico needs
    After that, get the marina and special forces of Mexico and send them on "operation cdsnitches" and "operation cjng extortionist" and kick ass

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    1. Naaa they love their cartel bribery

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    2. 12:27 ain't it exactly what isit is happening down there in Culocan, Sinaloa?

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    3. Someone should look into why SEMAR has pretty much never been in Michoacan
      And doesn’t SEMAR indirectly work with us navy and intelligence?

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  2. Faceless judges are good for countries that can't control their crimes. No faceless in El Salvador, South American countries should take notes on how good, El Salvador tackles crime.

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    1. El salvador has a total population half the size of Mexico City mongolito.

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    2. Go Live in El Salvador

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    3. That's Koo foo

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    4. El Salvador did an excellent job on cleaning up their country from criminals

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    5. Salvador is a small country. You could put all its people inside a good size stadium. Are comparing caring for two kids under the age of 10 to caring for 20 kids under that age. One will be a whole lot easier that the other.

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    6. Those cholos in El Salvador have never seen the power of the state before bukele unlike in Mexico where they have been fighting back or getting away since Calderons war on drugs started

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  3. Viva morena viva amlo!!!ustedes gringos tienen opiniones de países donde no viven y no estan viendo su país derrumbar

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    1. En ambos países la autoridad tiene las manos amarradas por la burocracia los políticos y organizaciones izquierdistas
      Y específicamente en México ningún extranjero tiene la culpa de que la autoridad se venda al narco los que trafican armas el huachicol el trata de blancas los polleros y sin mencionar a los delincuentes y empresas extranjeras

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  4. Honestly wouldn't make a difference. Face or no face, the right amount of money can make someone start giving up names. Mexico is corrupt beyond repair from the local to the federal government!

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    1. Blah blah blah. USA has the same type of corruption. You guys are no example to anyone in the world.

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    2. You're not to bright an individual if you think it won't make a difference. It's a safeguard for judges who actually will be doing their jobs. Only certain people will be able to find out who that judge is. And if someone is going around asking anout one, it will at the very minimum take time. By that time the case will atleast already be in progress. If the judge is found out all he has to do is ask to be taken off the case and they'll have to try and find out that identity. And that's just assuming they find out the first time. Someone inquiring about judges that only certain people know their identities should stand out and expose the person and he /she could be dealt with accordingly. That alone will help out because it'll be more time consuming for oc to find anything out and during that time the process will be in motion. In the legal system there are time frames that need to be met. And maybe you don't have no faith or hope that Mexico could be fixed, but quitters never accomplish anything. How can you win a fight you aren't even showing up for. Not trying and failure might be the story of your life, but there are those who are willing to step into the ring regardless the oponent. That the only way to succeed.

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    3. U really that ignorant money buys anything in Mexico stop it they just trying to make them selfs look better just in case mz spills the beans

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  5. Is this really gonna make a difference or is this just to save face?
    Cartels will still know who the judge on the case is....

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  6. Mexico keeps surprising me. Their gov doesn't take shit from no one, not from US not from journalist and certainly not the cartels. They even locked Mencho's wife up. Viva

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  7. Oh so and so was found not guilty . Who was the judge? No one knows lol



    RIP Gilbertona

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    1. Ofcourse there will be safeguards. Don't lose focus. This is to address the corruption in the legal system. It's one piece of the gun . The whole bill is that gun. Once passed it will be fully loaded to try and kill that corruption. The bill has a committee of 3 people that are independent of the court that are going to be overlooking all subject cases and will be able to launch an investigation if they see some irregularities. On top of that the bill also has in it a mechanism that will make it more transparent and easier for the public to know about, and follow, the case.... Some advice: instead of wasting your time trying to think about a clever comment you think you can post, how about taking that time to actually looking into things? Knowledge is power my boy.

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  8. it's not a bad idea BUT what about corrupt faceless judges.. and what about corrupt government people leaking the identities of 'faceless' judges

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    1. As for corrupt faceless judges, read my comment abouve about the panel that will be created if passed. As for the other question, the number will be very limited as to who knows or can find out who that facless judge is. I would think only 1 or 2 people will know who is assigned to a certain case. Anyone else wanting to find out would have to submit paperwork for their reasons. With that person or two ultimately being responsible for keeping that judge faceless. If the identity is exposed, the judge can ask to be taken of the case and given to another. At the very least time will be running that whole time (because it will take time for them to find out, if they do find out) and progress in the case will continue to move forward. It's harder to stop a car going down hill 10 seconds in than it is when it's barely etting started. That analogy describes the process in a case.

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  9. Mexican government is a JOKE

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  10. I’m surprised this isn’t a thing yet in Mexico. Not only does it protect the judges, but it would also make it harder for the cartels to bribe the judges to release them since they wouldn’t know which judge is handling their case.

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    1. Yes me friend. This would definitely help.

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    2. So now only 2 persons get to keep all the money great even easier what a joke

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  11. Bro, why is the UN Human Rights Committee always the first one to protect the criminals. What about the innocent judges who are actually trying to do their job and all the innocent people that are at risk if these criminals get released back into the public ?

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  12. Ivan archivaldo supposedly got caught

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  13. Ivan Guzmán has been arrested

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  14. #CULIACAN 🚨#ULTIMAHORA SE REPORTA LA DETENCION DE IVAN ARCHIVALDO GUZMAN SALAZAR ALIAS EL "CHAPITO" O "TRAIDOR" ESTO EN EL MUNICIPIO DE CULIACAN SINALOA. https://x.com/elnayarita8248?s=21

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  15. La NATO tiene que llevar acabó un operacion terrestre aerea y ampibia en mexico y con todo el poder de fuego sin medirse y asi mermar a los carteles y establecer puntos de control y vigilancia área en todo mexico por 5 años y que el general sea Donald trump quien ordene y supervise esta operación por 4 años y quién se oponga que sea detenido o abatido
    El mercenario 🇲🇽 🦁

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  16. breaking news ivan captured

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    1. If they did just to chew him out on why he sent mz to USA should have put him to bed

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  17. Shit going down in Culiacán Ivan captured supposedly

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  18. It won’t make a difference. Especially CJNG will crack the secret and know who is behind the mask. Somebody will get rich selling that info.

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  19. Did Ivan get captured

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  20. Heavy gun fire in culiacan 3min ago , supposedly one chapito caught

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  21. Periódico mercurio on fb vids of heavy gun fire , Chapito caught

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  22. ¿ Iván capturado ?

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  23. Detention of Ivan Archivaldo in Culiacán.

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  24. They’ll still find some way to pressure the government to reveal who is the real judges behind that either by bribes or by force by threatening them and or there families Mexico needs to implement a strategy like the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele but due to its level of corruption it will never happen and never because of how everything is underpaid but it’s set up like this for a reason so the power and people who control Mexico remains running how it’s ran . So they will not change anything it’s another way to try and show the world they are trying when in reality they are not . Mexico is a failed state and it will remain like that unless like I said a government like the Salvadorian president comes in and wipes them all out atte el Que no save nada

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    1. - el que no sabe nada aka. El que no es presidente. Aka el que no vive en Mexico aka el apenas se graduo

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