By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Sep 1 2004 (IPS)

Adolfo Vázquez resigned Wednesday from Argentina’s Supreme Court to avoid impeachment, becoming the fourth justice to leave the Court since President Néstor Kirchner took office in May 2003.

After an agitated week in which he criticised his fellow magistrates, reported an attempt on his life, and unsuccessfully sought political asylum in neighbouring Uruguay, Vázquez, who was set to face formal impeachment proceedings in the Senate Wednesday with 15 charges against him, presented his resignation to the president citing “personal reasons”.

The chair of the impeachment commission in the lower house, Deputy Ricardo Falú, lamented that Vázquez had stepped down instead of facing the political trial. He said he believed the justice had resigned in order to avoid losing “a good pension.”

Even those who resign have the right to the retirement pension for former Supreme Court justices, which stands at 14,000 pesos (more than 4,500 dollars a month), a luxury in Argentina.

Vázquez, the fourth magistrate – out of a total of nine members of the Supreme Court – to leave his post since Kirchner began his anti-corruption purge of the badly discredited Court, faces accusations of “poor performance” of his duties.

The Supreme Court, traditionally made up of five justices, was expanded to nine members and packed with loyal magistrates by president Carlos Menem (1989-1999) in 1991 – a move that drew fire from political leaders, lawmakers, civic groups and jurists.

Two justices already resigned last year after finding themselves faced with the threat of impeachment, and another was removed by Congress after a political trial. The three had boasted of their professional ties and friendships with Menem and members of his government.

One of them, former Supreme Court president Julio Nazareno, was a law firm partner of the former president and his brother, Senator Eduardo Menem.

The former judges were accused of handing down politically motivated rulings that were biased in favour of the Menem administration and which in some cases let officials implicated in corruption cases off the hook.

Former caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde attempted to carry out his own purge in 2002, but members of parliament tried to accuse all of the judges together, and the initiative failed to prosper.

After Kirchner succeeded Duhalde, a survey by the local Zuleta Puceiro polling firm found that nine out of 10 respondents wanted to see the Court overhauled.

Congress began preparing impeachment proceedings individually for the magistrates whose performance had been most heavily questioned.

The first to resign was Nazareno, who left the Court in June 2003 before his political trial got underway.

The Anti-Corruption Office is investigating whether Nazareno was guilty of “illicit enrichment” during his time on the Court.

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to overturn an internal Court regulation created at Nazareno’s initiative, according to which the justices are under no obligation to provide public financial disclosure statements.

In October 2003, a second justice, Guillermo Lopez, resigned after the impeachment commission voted to begin proceedings against him. He has since died.

The only justice to undergo impeachment was Eduardo Moliné O’Connor, who was removed by Congress in December last year.

Kirchner filled the vacant spots on the Court through a novel procedure proposed by civil society organisations to make the process more transparent. Under the new system, the president recommends candidates, who are submitted to public evaluation and a public legislative hearing before they are confirmed by Congress.

The new justices are penal judge Eugenio Zaffaroni and expert in civil law, Elena Highton. The third, Carmen Argibay, is to join the Court once she finishes her work in the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in Geneva.

Before he stepped down, Vázquez launched harsh accusations against the government. On Aug. 24, he told the press that the centre-left Kirchner was trying to form a Court that was “subordinated” to his power, and that he was using Supreme Court president Enrique Petracchi as his personal contact within the Court.

The next day, the now ex-magistrate reported that someone opened fire on the car in which he and his bodyguard and personal secretary were riding. The car has the marks of two bullets fired by a rifle from just a few metres away. The justice system is investigating several possible hypotheses.

A few hours after the attack, which according to Vázquez came in reprisal for his criticism of the government and the Supreme Court president, he travelled to Uruguay and met with President Jorge Batlle, to request political asylum.

But Batlle refused him that benefit, which was created to protect those who are forced to abandon their country in situations of a violation of the state of law.

The Chamber of Deputies may now begin impeachment proceedings against Antonio Boggiano, another of the justices criticised for issuing politically biased rulings under Menem. Meanwhile, the government will have to find another nominee for the newly vacant position.

Shortly after taking office, Kirchner also carried out a purge of senior military and police officials implicated in corruption and past human rights violations.

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