Joint release
In a ruling published on August 14, Argentina’s highest court also required that within a five-day period, the provincial judiciary – through the Superior Tribunal of Justice of Jujuy – explain the reasons for breaching the decision that had ordered house arrest for Milagro Sala.
The Supreme Court ruling calls for full compliance with the decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which, in the framework of the process of provisional measures, resolved on November 27, 2017 that the Argentine state substitute the detention of Milagro Sala with another, less-restrictive alternative measure. This, after warning that she was undergoing “a grave psychological crisis” and that she had inflicted injuries on herself twice.
The Supreme Court understood that as the head of the national judicial branch, it has the obligation to adopt measures that are conducive to sustaining observance of the Constitution, without impinging on the functions of other branches.
Amnesty International, ANDHES and CELS had informed the Inter-American Court of the national and provincial states’ breach of compliance when, some days ago, in an inopportune and arbitrary fashion, judge Pablo Pullen Llermanos of Jujuy had ordered the immediate transfer of Milagro Sala to a federal prison in the province of Salta, in the wee hours of the morning.
This action violates the provisional measures ordered by the Inter-American Court and ratified on December 5, 2017 by the Argentine Supreme Court. Jujuy’s judiciary has the obligation to urgently adopt measures to protect the life, personal integrity and health of Milagro Sala.
Amnesty International
Abogados y Abogadas del Noroeste Argentino en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales (ANDHES)
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Photo: MAFIA