Through a resolution published on August 10, the Judicial Power (PJ) declared the precautionary measure requested by the former magistrate of the Constitutional Court founded. Eloy Espinosa-Saldana by which they sought to revoke the suspension that had been imposed by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). This, for allegedly having plagiarized some of his texts.
In this sense, it is ordered PUCP suspend the restrictive measures that had been imposed on the professor, mainly, the prohibition of teaching at the university, as had been dictated in a document issued by the Disciplinary Commission for Teachers and Pre-docents of the house of studies, the last 12 of May.
Among other details, the sanction that had been imposed on Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña by the Pontifical Catholic University was contemplated without benefit for two academic semesters, which implies in practice a decrease in the income of the professor and, in turn, an impact on his quality of life, given his delicate state of health.
Precisely, this criterion, the state of health of the man of letters, was one of the considerations taken by Judge Milagros Grajeda Bashualdo. As referred to in the resolution, there is a real danger that Espinosa-Saldaña will not be able to pay for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis that he suffers for the duration of the process that he maintains with the PUCP.
In this way, Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña is given freedom to return to university classrooms during the 2022-2, 2023-0 and 2023-1 cycles.
Resolution suspended sanction against Espinosa-Saldaña. Photo: Judiciary
Why was Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña accused of plagiarism?
The case of alleged plagiarism came to light in September 2021, when Juan Manuel Sosa Sacio, former thesis advisor to Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña, accused the then magistrate of the Constitutional Court of having used uncited fragments of his master’s thesis in two articles published in the 77th edition of the magazine Law and Debate.
According to the version given by Sosa Sacio, the professor would have plagiarized parts of his research work contained between pages 195 and 203 to use them in the texts presented in the hemerographic publication of legal topics.
For this reason, it was decided to file his complaint with the Academic Department of Law of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP).
The conclusions of the PUCP
In May 2022, the Academic Department of Law of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) declared that Eloy Espinosa-Saldaña had plagiarized, which is why the sanction was ordered corresponding to the case: the suspension of his work as a teacher for two academic semesters without pay during the periods of 2022-2 and 2023-1.
Nevertheless, it was decided to grant Espinosa-Saldaña the option to challenge the sanction before the Judicial Power, entity that decided to suspend the sanction of the professor. Therefore, he will return to practice as a professor at the PUCP.
