Supreme Court judge Carmen Argibay passed away on Saturday at 2pm, after losing a battle against emphysema. The 74-year old had been a minister of the court since 2005, when she was nominated by then-president Néstor Kirchner, and was the first woman to be nominated by a democratic government to the country’s highest court. Her colleague and current judge Elena Highton de Nolasco was the second, though she took office first as Argibay had to finish her tenure at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague.
A former political prisoner during the last dictatorship and self-defined as an atheist, Argibay came under fire by conservative factions within the Catholic Church for her support to the decriminalisation of abortion. She confronted the government in several occasions, alleging a defence of the separation between the judiciary and the executive.
One of her greatest legacies is her work in the Women’s Office of the Supreme Court, where she worked to break the ‘glass ceiling’ and to include gender perspectives within the judiciary.
Due to a modification to the composition of the Supreme Court which seeks to bring down the number of judges from seven to five, Argibay will not be replaced.
A wake was held for the judge at the court building yesterday, where her peers from the Supreme Court paid their respects. “Even though Carmen will not be here physically, the principles she carried out will remain. We will keep fighting for it, for the Women’s Office, for the Forensic Medicine Body, and for the independence of the judiciary,” said Supreme Court president Ricardo Lorenzetti.
She will be cremated today in a private cemetery in Pilar, Buenos Aires province.
The post Supreme Court Judge Carmen Argibay Dies appeared first on The Argentina Independent.
