The social distrust of the work of the judges and magistrates is reflected with the number of justice operators that were denounced in 2024.
Statistics of the Judicial Agency (OJ) detail that there were 736 complaints against judges and magistrates in the supervision of courts. The data were obtained through requests for access to public information.
Although the amount of complaints was high, the numbers are reduced significantly when talking about sanctions. The judicial authorities imposed 16 during 2024.
That means that, from every hundred complaints received, in only two cases there were sanctions, figures that, for analysts in Criminal Law and Justice, must be an alert for judicial authorities to take action on the matter.
Of the 736 complaints against judges and magistrates, 339 were not even admitted for processing. Three signs are among those who dismiss more frequently:
- Nonconformities and irregularities with what is resolved within the judicial files.
- Delay in the process of judicial files.
- Breach of duties or malicious delay.
The authorities of the Judicial Discipline Board, in charge of monitoring the complaints presented by the users of the system, explained about the dismissed complaints that “each case has its peculiarities, which are subject to analysis so that this Board issues some decision about admissibility.”
Among the 16 sanctions issued in 2024 against judges and magistrates, 12 suspensions without salary enjoyment and four written admonitions stand out.
The figures, at the discretion of analysts, are a reflection of the social distrust of the OJ judges, and some of the cases come to public opinion.
At present, the Judges of Alta Verapaz are involved in an administrative investigation for accusations that involve the Courts and Courts of the town in practices of liquor and coexistence consumption with minors.
The Melisa Palacios case, in which Fernanda Bonilla appears as the main defendant, has also monopolized public attention. Complainants of the case state that, although Judge Juan José Regalado has shown apparent sympathy towards Bonilla, he did not accept the challenge, so they doubt their objectivity.
Another case that was also in the eye of the hurricane in recent weeks is that of doctor Kevin Malouf, since the judge in charge, Pedro Laynez, did not accept the challenges against him, despite the fact that he issued an opinion on the situation, according to the Public Ministry (MP).
Get independence
For independent analyst Zoel Franco, an expert in criminal law, there are now many judges that evade ethical and conduct norms within their courts, with the argument of the “judicial independence.”
“OJ controls on their justice operators must improve. It is true that there is the limit of judicial independence, but that should not be a shield for judges to have behaviors contrary to the law,” he warned.
The recent behaviors of some judges, together with others about who even weigh doubts about alleged corruption, make many people distrust the judicial administration.
“There is a lack of confidence in the justice system and it has been losing for a long time. People have the perception that the justice system does not respond for so many corruption accusations against justice operators,” Franco added.
The figures are not encouraging and ensures that current judicial authorities are looking for a way to solve the problem.
“There are cases of judges who have made decisions within their function that generate distrust and that may not go according to law. This pays for the degradation of the justice system, mainly the penalty, in Guatemala,” he said.
Never at 100%
Alejandro Rodríguez, from the Center for Comparative Studies in Criminal Sciences, believes that statistics on judges need substantive solutions. Therefore, the current Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) must pay attention.
“The supervision that exists in court is a quite dependent body of the judicial body, and that is why it is not objective when doing the investigations. In 2016, when the law of the judicial career was made, the idea was that the discipline board was elected by the judicial career, but then there were setbacks,” he said.
He considers that the delay of justice is a systemic problem that would merit that concrete actions were taken to reduce as much as possible the judicial default.
Finally, Rodríguez is necessary that the CSJ verifies that the deadlines to schedule audiences are being respected, even if their agreed time is respected; Otherwise, these problems will continue.
“The judge has a lot of control over when to schedule the hearings, their duration, and they are small delays that are not given in all courts, but in many; there is a chain delay,” he said.