Gustavo Ocampos and Gustavo Santander, members of the shortlist for the Supreme Court of Justice. Photo: GEN capture.
Gustavo Santander and Gustavo Ocampos, members of the shortlist for the Supreme Court of Justice, delved into the vision they share in relation to the reality of the justice system, their proposals to improve existing shortcomings and improve judicial management.
In an interview with the Fuego Cruzado program broadcast by GEN/Nación Media, Ocampos indicated that for the applicants for the position of minister of the Supreme Court of Justice, the selection process was “a bit stressful” due to the various situations that arose. .
He took the opportunity to criticize the regulations for the formation of the short list and maintained that the image, management and conduct of the magistrates must be taken into account, since this will allow the selection of judges to be refined and minimize cases of corruption in the justice.
In turn, Santander pointed out that the process has improved over the years in terms of the level of transparency on the part of the Judicial Council, with the public disclosure of its actions and decisions. Despite this, he considers that “it is a perfectible process” and the regulation can be improved.
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In his opinion, the regulations for the selection process must be established by law and must not be subject to any variation, since the continuous changes that are made cause the rules of the game to change continuously.
When asked about the recent appointments made by the United States Government, Santander and Ocampos agreed that due process can be respected and, above all, that there are sufficient guarantees so that those appointed can defend themselves against the accusations made against them.
Ocampos said that, just as there are good magistrates in our country, there are also those who through their bad actions denigrate and affect those who really dignify the position. “We have many shortcomings, that’s why I proposed several things to try to improve justice, ethical training has a lot to do with it.”
In this sense, he advocates having judges who can “live honestly, have ethical value and do no harm to anyone”, so it is essential that they have good faith in their actions and apply the law fairly.
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Carrying out periodic audits is one of its proposals to try to solve the judicial delay that affects the justice system, in order to identify where the possible shortcomings are and if it is the responsibility of the Supreme Court of Justice or the Public Ministry. Along the same lines, it proposes strengthening the Management Audit Directorate to review the reports of the magistrates in the different constituencies.
For its part, Santander emphasized that there is a low level of credibility in terms of justice bodies, which is due to corruption and delinquency. In order to settle this dilemma, he proposes publicly disclosing the internal notebooks of judges and court ministers, so that citizens have access to all the information contained therein. With this, it will also be possible to identify the “defaulting” judges who allow the extinction of criminal cases.
“There is a feeling of impunity because the cases are not investigated, or if they are investigated, they are investigated poorly or sometimes they allow themselves to be prescribed along the way. The Court has a fundamental tool that is the confirmation of magistrates and prosecutors, ”he added during the interview.
