Napoleon Camps filed the lawsuit in the Central American Court of Justice. The military assault on 9F in the Legislative Assembly and the failure to disregard the Constitutional Chamber support part of the demand.
Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez has been sued in the Central American Court of Justice for violating the constitutional and democratic rule of law since he took power on June 1, 2019, thus, the plaintiff says, also transgresses the Central American treaties and agreements thereby seriously jeopardizing democracy in the region.
The lawsuit was filed last Tuesday and in a personal capacity, by Francisco Napoleón Camps Martínez, who is running for a council for the party Temps Temps.
Camps confirmed that he has already been notified of the receipt of the lawsuit by the Secretary General of the Court and is awaiting his appeal to be admitted soon.
According to Camps’ demand, the series of attacks that Bukele has committed “gradually and progressively” is notorious, putting the Salvadoran Republic and its democracy in “grave danger”.
But he also told the Central American Court that as a result of these anti-democratic actions of the Salvadoran president, senior government officials with whom El Salvador has friendly and cooperative relations have not agreed to meet with him.
“These attacks, which would be lengthy to state because of their unusual amount, have largely exceeded the limits of what is tolerable and have made imperative the need for citizens of the Republic to activate the state and supranational mechanisms offered by the legal system before the non-rectification of anti-democratic actions by the President of the Republic … “, says part of the demand.
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Camps bases his lawsuit before the Court on four violations of the rule of law committed by Bukele and which, he states, affect the democratic principles that inspire the Central American community and protection or preservation are the responsibility of this regional court.
The causes of the lawsuit are: usurpation of the constitutional powers of the Legislative Assembly by convening an extraordinary general assembly on February 9, 2020, which has led to a conflict between bodies.
The second is the lack of respect and non-compliance with the rulings handed down by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice. The third is President Bukele’s administrative provisions and actions that have affected Central American integration law regulations.
And the fourth cause is the instrumentalization of the Armed Forces, provided for in the Central American Democratic Security Treaty.
One of the most serious acts of disrespect for the independence of powers in the country has been the irruption of Bukele accompanied by members of the Special Military Security Brigade who used long weapons and surrounded the Blue Hall.
This assault was an usurpation for many experts and politicians. Bukele sat in the chair of the Speaker of the Assembly, played the gong and declared a session open, according to him, for deputies to approve a loan for him, even though the Constitution does not allow him to do so.
Even sitting in the chair of the Speaker of the Legislature, Mario Ponce, he dropped this assertion: “I think it is now very clear who is in control of the situation.” Then he got up and left the Blue Hall in a surprising and strange way.
But outside he told a group of followers and employees that he had asked God and he told him to be patient. He added that on February 28 “we will have this Assembly” but threatened a similar convocation if in a week the deputies did not approve the credit.
Disobedience to the court rulings of the highest court
Napoleon Camps says that in addition to the serious events of the 9F and other conducts of president have led him to appeal to the Central American Court of Justice.
“We could not even warn or at least imagine what it meant on February 9: the beginning of a process of violation of democracy and the rule of law in El Salvador,” says Camps.
Failure by Bukele to abide by the rulings of the Constitutional Chamber is a sign of constitutional and institutional deterioration, so much so that European parliamentarians, and US Democratic and Republican congressmen came. UU. They issued letters in which they have expressed that Bukele is in breach of democratic clauses in the bilateral agreement.
Within these violations of the rulings in the courtroom on things judged, Camps asks the Court to make a “thorough examination” and “examine the disobedience” of rulings as in the case of Mozote, where he has been prevented from a judge executing a court order or habeas corpus issued on illegal detentions during quarantine and referral of citizens to so-called containment centers.
According to Camps, the Salvadoran ruler is transgressing the important scaffolding of the country, as well as the democratic principles and values enshrined in bilateral treaties, conventions and agreements in El Salvador.
And these commitments, says Campos, are with friendly countries, with which El Salvador has worked since the peace negotiations.
Moreover, he says that the fact that El Salvador was not eligible for a third Fomilenio by the Millennium Account Corporation is a kind of international sanction, as is what during the Donald Trump administration, last December, a package of military assistance to corrupt governments that instrumentally hoist the armed forces and police forces was withdrawn from a general spending law. Among them, El Salvador.
Per Camps, who has had a long academic career abroad, says that this whole set of Bukele actions have been leading to the path of “sooner or later colliding with the international system at three levels: the universal , which is the whole set of commitments acquired since the Charter of the United Nations to defend democracy, but also at the hemispheric level with the violation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
In addition, this “systematic and recurrent” behavior, says Camps, collides with the founding treaties and secondary treaties of the new Central American integration process that began with Esquipulas I and Esquipulas II.
According to Camps, Bukele violates, for example, the democratic security treaty dating from 1995, by instrumentalizing the Armed Forces and the police force, because this treaty, which in his opinion is the most important of Central American integration, means a commitment of the states party to “stop any violation of the democratic institutionalization of each Central American country.”
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Camps has asked the Court to “observe the conduct of the President” and proceed to take appropriate action, including ordering Bukele to disrupt this pattern of systematic and recurrent conduct of boring democracy and the constitutional life of the country. “
Camps has also asked that he not know the case of Edgar Varela, a Salvadoran magistrate who is a member of the Central American Court of Justice, because he is the husband of Bukele’s education minister, Carla Hanania, and there is an “obvious” conflict. of interest.
“I would expect that Dr. Edgar Varela, being a career diplomat, having the studies he has and given that he enjoys a respectable career as a jurist and diplomat will not need the Court to separate him, that he will have the ethical height to separate from this case, “Camps said.