Argentinian judge who owned flats in which brothels operated appointed to top Vatican post. Please no more Peronists or Jesuits in the Vatican!

The brothel scandal that pushed Zaffaroni, Pope Francis' appointee, in the spotlight

The former judge of the Court was in the spotlight because brothels operated in his flats. His attorney acknowledged his guilt and paid a fine.  (Cathcon: To complicate matters, the two political activists who brought attention to matters are both friends of Pope Francis, one of whom has been accused of abuse himself)

Pope Francis has appointed Eugenio Zaffaroni as head of a Vatican institute for social rights training. The news came a month after the 12th anniversary of a PERFIL investigation that discovered that the former Supreme Court member's flats were used for prostitution. 

The Vatican press office released a chirograph (manuscript) in which the Supreme Pontiff informed about the creation of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Institute for the investigation and promotion of Social Rights, with academic, teaching and training purposes on the subject of Social Rights, migration and colonialism".

And further on, he appointed "for the period 2023-2028 as the Founding Academic Board of the aforementioned Institute, Professors Raúl Eugenio Zaffaroni, Alberto Filippi and Marcelo Suárez Orozco". 

Zaffaroni, a renowned jurist aligned with Kirchnerism (a form of Peronism practiced by by the supporters of Néstor Kirchner and his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner) . and former member of the Supreme Court of Justice, was denounced more than a decade ago as a result of the investigation in which this newspaper discovered that a flat in his name on Vicente López Street in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires was used by women who provided sexual services. The organisation La Alameda took up the matter and filed a series of complaints for investigation. 

How much they charged for the services

In a first article, this media reported that the flat in question was a studio apartment located on the 5th floor of a building at 2200 Vicente López Street. It was 25 square meters divided into three rooms, acquired in 2000 by the jurist, according to the registry of the Chamber of Deputies. 

Two or three girls per shift provided sexual services there, charging 120 pesos per hour. That was 29.20 dollars at the official exchange rate on 22 July 2011, the day PERFIL's investigation was published.

As Item 59 had been eliminated by a decree and newspapers could no longer publish sexual advertisements, the promotion of the place was through the distribution of flyers saying "candy and massages 24 hours". When PERFIL contacted the place, it verified the offers.

In the building, neighbours said anonymously that the former judge had the flat but that "he never shows up", while another said that "prostitutes have been working there for four years, but in the last two months these have arrived and are causing problems". 

The investigation became so extensive that in the end there was not just one flat in question, but six. In May 2013, Zaffaroni's agent, Ricardo Montivero, appeared in court and said that he was in charge of the management of the flats where prostitution was taking place. He had to pay a fine of 10,000 pesos for violating the law of prophylaxis, which punishes those who "ostensibly or covertly support, administer or manage houses of tolerance". 

What Zaffaroni explained

In an archived statement in Página/12, dated 3 August 2011, Zaffaroni said that "so far what we have is a civil offence of denaturalisation of the rental contract, of which I am a victim. Whether there is a crime of trafficking will be analysed by the courts". In this way he defended himself against the accusations against him and the requests for impeachment that appeared from the opposition.

In April 2014, the definitive acquittal was confirmed. It was when the examining magistrate Carlos Manuel Bruniard declared the criminal action against Montivero extinguished as a result of the payment of the fine, the minimum amount for this type of crime. As he had no criminal record, he signed the acquittal. 

The case also involved Marcia González, a woman who allegedly ran four of the brothels, but died in 2012 in a road accident in Misiones. She was accompanied by Angélica Duarte, a woman who rented the other two flats. The vehicle was driven by a former commissioner of the Federal Police, Juan José Cantero, who had been married to Duarte and was made available after the complaint.

In statements from the archive of Página/12, dated 3 August 2011, Zaffaroni said that "so far what we have is a civil offence of denaturalisation of the rental contract, of which I am a victim. Whether there is a crime of trafficking will be analysed by the courts". In this way he defended himself against the accusations against him and the requests for impeachment that appeared from the opposition.

In April 2014, the definitive acquittal was confirmed. It was when the examining magistrate Carlos Manuel Bruniard declared the criminal action against Montivero extinguished as a result of the payment of the fine, the minimum amount for this type of crime. As he had no criminal record, he signed the acquittal. 

The case also involved Marcia González, a woman who allegedly ran four of the brothels, but died in 2012 in a road accident in Misiones. She was accompanied by Angélica Duarte, a woman who rented the other two flats. The vehicle was driven by a former commissioner of the Federal Police, Juan José Cantero, who had been married to Duarte and was made available after the complaint.

The scandal at the time spilled over to the then judge of the Court, who faced a series of lawsuits until the situation dissipated. Today, the renowned jurist was appointed by the Pope, who on multiple occasions has spoken out against prostitution and human trafficking. "Human trafficking disfigures dignity. There are so many exploited people living in inhumane conditions who suffer indifference and discarding by society," the Pope said recently.

Source