[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20694]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    JUDICIAL CORRUPTION IN ARGENTINA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 5, 1999

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following testimony of Dr. 
Federico Westerkamp, founder of the Center for Legal and Social 
Studies.

                                                     July 22,1999.
     To the members of Congress: Rep. Tom Lantos, Rep. Eric 
       Faleomavaega, Rep. John Edward Porter
       First of all, thank you very much for inviting me, as a 
     founding member of the Center for Legal and Social Studies 
     (CELS) of Buenos Aires, to act as a witness in this Members 
     Briefing on Judicial Corruption in Argentina.
       In my view, the judiciary of my country is in a delicate 
     state. Charges of corruption have proliferated in the last 
     years. Several judges are under legal processes although they 
     move with the certain slowness. Various judges are currently 
     under close scrutiny. Some of them are being submitted to the 
     so called impeachment under the old system where the House of 
     Representatives makes the accusation and the Senate decides 
     if removal is fitting or not.
       With few exceptions, mainly for ethical corruption, the 
     system of impeachment failed and the new 1995 constitution 
     replaced with the Council of the Magistracy, a method which 
     just recently started. Many hopes have been placed on the new 
     system, which in its first cases will show whether or not it 
     will fulfill the hopes of the citizenry.
       There are some courts which have being charged of 
     prevarication, abuse of authority, bad fulfillment of the 
     public functions and ideological falsehood. These are the 
     most common charges against the bad judges, and we hope that 
     the Council of Magistracies proceeds with decision and 
     courage so that the new institution does not fail.
       In the last decade one case has precisely demonstrated the 
     three categories already mentioned and I do not hesitate 
     signaling that it is the case of the three judges: Mariano 
     Bergers, Roberto Murature and Julio Caesar Corvalan de la 
     Colina, who have all acted as lower court judges in the case 
     of the Buenos Aires Yoga School (BAYS). The case was 
     initiated in December 1993 under the command of the first 
     judge named above, storming the school headquarters and also 
     various private properties of their members, and putting two 
     distinguished ladies in prison without any proof of having 
     committed any crime; on the contrary, all charges against the 
     yoga school were unproved and all the noisy campaign of the 
     court, full of false accusations and with lavishness of false 
     information, created a sense of hysteria in the population of 
     the country, which incredulous, did not know whether to 
     believe or disbelieve the information from the judge, his 
     secretary and various employees and chaperones.
       The authorities of the Yoga School were threatened with 
     imprisonment. Former judge Berges pronounced serious anti-
     Semitic expressions against the president of BAYS Dr. 
     Percowicz, and several of his advisors wrote similar 
     expressions on the walls during the searches.
       As time passed and the facts appeared in the real image, 
     many people--myself among them--realized that everything was 
     a bluff, probably due to the ideological background of the 
     court, and as the truth began to be revealed, the public 
     began to disbelieve the charges against the whole Yoga 
     school, including its students. Judge Berges opted for giving 
     up the case, as he knew that the House Impeachment Committee 
     was going to accuse him before the Senate, in order to remove 
     him.
       A new lower court judge, Roberto Murature took over; the 
     campaign against the Yoga school was still promoted, but at 
     this time it was obvious that the process was weakening, so 
     the second judge was relieved of the case by a suspicious 
     division in the court, and a the third judge took over.
       The process has revealed that the charges against the Yoga 
     school were promoted by three families whose daughters were 
     suffering bad treatment before entering the Yoga school, from 
     their mothers and fathers. (In the first case the woman was 
     charged by her stepfather of showing strange behavior, that 
     he ascribed to the Yoga School and its alleged ``brain 
     washing'' by members of the school).
       The stepfather, with his so called ``expert'' in cults Mr. 
     Silletta started a virulent campaign against the Yoga School, 
     through the media. Last March, the third judge started the 
     second process against the yoga school (double jeopardy, 
     ``non bis in idem''), victimizing three women, Veronica Cane, 
     Valeria Llamas, and Carla Paparella and under petition of 
     their parent declared them mentally ``incapable'' without 
     taking into consideration their psychiatric reports 
     compulsorily ordered by the first judge Berges. The three 
     women, hopeless, came to my home in order to ask me, as a 
     well known human rights defender, for help.
       That is the reason why I am here. I have tried to speak 
     with Judge Corvalan de la Colina, and with the Secretary of 
     the court, but it was useless, the judge never received 
     myself nor the three women. It seems he is accustomed to 
     ignoring the arguments of anyone who knows what is happening 
     in his court.
       This is why I have decided to present my testimony as a 
     witness at this briefing, in order to protect the above 
     mentioned women, and to carry over my experiences as a member 
     and founder of human rights NGO's, such as the Assembly of 
     Human Rights, The Center for Legal and Social Studies, and 
     the Movement for Life and Peace.
       Thank you very much Honorable Representatives.

       

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