A judge who published a selfie along with a pro-government message. Another, specialized in gender, who spoke on TikTok about doing “patriarchal monitoring”. These are just two cases —apart from several other collaterals that were emerging— that shook the desks of the Supreme Court of Justice, the highest body of the Judicial Power, this week. Based on this, the Association of Magistrates of Uruguay (AMU) announced that it will hold a workshop for its associates that It will have “recommendations of good practices in digital platforms and relations with the media.”
They stressed in a statement that these are “some specific cases” that are still under investigation and that they are “following closely.” “The growth of social networks poses challenges in communication, with its benefits and risks, and that generates a learning process that we are all going through,” they considered.
From this, “for a few weeks” they began with the idea of holding this workshop that will also have “the necessary spaces to carry out an in-depth debate on freedom of expression.”
In any case, they pointed out that it must be a constructive instance and that they reaffirm their “support for the actions of the more than 500 judges who carry out their tasks every day, committed to the values of impartiality and independence, applying national and international regulations, fundamental for the proper functioning of the justice system.
In addition, they warned of their “concern over the growing attacks on the functioning of Justice through the use of specific cases that are still being investigated and do not undermine the strength of the Uruguayan judicial system.”
The cases
The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) added Judge Florencia Ferreyra, who currently works at Treinta y Tres, for her publications on social networks in favor of the government and the Police, reported Info Capital (Tv Ciudad) and confirmed from the Judiciary .
The magistrate had published selfie photos accompanied by captions such as “You don’t like the president’s decisions? Nobody asked you. Fuck you and start for the court“. He also shared an image of the Police shield that added: “Call me stupid, but I’m excited to see the parade of the National Police School. It will be because working with them one sees, that they do what they can and more… and the same things happen to them as to us. THANKS FOR EVERYTHING ‘THERE IS ORDER NOT TO LOOSEN’… they say out there”.
The judge had already been denounced previously for workplace harassment, abuse of authority and abuse at the administrative level, by six judicial officials who said they had been threatened to “throw them down the stairs,” according to El Observador had reported in 2019but it was not until these episodes were reported that it was decided to sum her up with removal from office.
Ferreyra was not the only judge in the Court’s sights in recent days. Lto judge specialized in gender violence of Panda, Ada Siré, uploaded videos that later went viral to the social network TikTok, in which he refers to the “macho stereotypes” that they observe in the “men’s meetings”.
The SCJ made a request for information that the magistrate had to respond to in 72 hours, but it was certified due to a health problem, which is why the term is suspended.
After studying their statements, and in an effort to gain an in-depth understanding of the matter, the hierarchs can decide to investigate the judge to determine her responsibility. Otherwise, the case will be archived.
