COLOMBIANS do not have a high opinion of their judiciary. They see it as slow, corrupt and prone to letting wrongdoers go free. A three-month strike starting last year by workers in the judicial system further tarnished its image. But until now Colombians have held the top courts in higher regard. The Constitutional Court won their gratitude by securing access to health care and upholding the rights of 5m displaced people. The Supreme Court prosecuted politicians who had colluded with right-wing paramilitary groups.
That esteem is now being tested. The Constitutional Court’s president, Jorge Pretelt, faces allegations that he solicited a bribe of 500m pesos ($210,000) to issue a ruling in favour of Fidupetrol, an oil company, in a dispute with the government. Mr Pretelt denies the charge and has temporarily stepped down as the court’s president (though not as a judge) to defend himself before a congressional commission.
“The crisis reaching the Constitutional Court is the last straw,” says Farid Benavides, a law professor at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá. Two-thirds of Colombians say they mistrust the high courts, according to a poll taken in March, after news of the scandal broke. Some critics called for the resignation of all high-court magistrates; others proposed a constitutional assembly to overhaul the judiciary.
Colombia’s...
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1zgFtMi
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