Ricardo Gil Lavedra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| National Deputy | |
| In office 10 December 2009 – 10 December 2013 | |
| Constituency | City of Buenos Aires |
| Minister of Justice and Human Rights | |
| In office 10 December 1999 – 11 October 2000 | |
| President | Fernando de la Rúa |
| Preceded by | Raúl Granillo Ocampo |
| Succeeded by | Jorge de la Rúa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-07-24)24 July 1949 (age 75) Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Political party | Radical Civic Union |
| Profession | Lawyer, magistrate |
Ricardo Gil Lavedra (born 24 July 1949) is an Argentine lawyer, magistrate, and politician. A member of theRadical Civic Union, Gil Lavedra served asMinister of Justice during the early presidency ofFernando de la Rúa, from 1999 to 2000. From 2009 to 2013, he was a member of theArgentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires.
Ricardo Rodolfo Gil Lavedra was born in Buenos Aires in 1949. He enrolled at theUniversity of Buenos Aires Law School, and earned ajuris doctor in 1972. He was named Secretary to the Supreme Court of theProvince of Buenos Aires in 1973, andjudge in the provincial Court of First Instance in 1974. He was hired as Vice President of Legal Affairs for thePérez Companc Group in 1979.[1]
Gil Lavedra was appointed to the National Criminal Court of Appeals in 1984, and in this capacity, he served in the panel of judges overseeing the historic 1985Trial of the Juntas, presiding over the trial in its early phase. Hiscross-examination of both witnesses and defendants reportedly focused on exploring the extent ofcriminal organizations that existed among theDirty War perpetrators.[2]
He was appointed Assistant Minister of Interior by PresidentRaúl Alfonsín in 1988, and from 1987 to 1995, served as Vice President of theUnited NationsCommittee Against Torture.[1]
Following a term as Vice President of the Crime Prevention Institute of the province of Buenos Aires, he was appointed Minister of Justice and Human Rights by PresidentFernando de la Rúa upon the latter's inaugural in December 1999. Subsequent revelations that the administration had bribed a number of UCR senators for their support of a stalled labor law flexibilization bill in April 2000 led to Gil Lavedra's resignation (as well as that of Vice PresidentCarlos Álvarez and three other cabinet members) in October. President de la Rúa himself resigned a year later.[3]
Gil Lavedra served as an Associate Judge in theInter-American Court of Human Rights between 2001 and 2003, and in the Argentine Supreme Court, between 2002 and 2005. He wrote numerous articles onconstitutional law andlegal theory beginning in 1977, includingAn Overview of Constitutional Amendments in Latin America in 2002.[4] He also served as legal advisor for theUnited Nations Development Programme, and is a member of thePermanent Assembly for Human Rights and other Argentine jurisprudence associations.[1]
He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in theArgentine Senate on the center-leftUCR ticket in2003,[5] and in2009, was elected to theArgentine Chamber of Deputies as a UCR member of theSocial and Civic Agreement.[6] He endorsed fellow UCR CongressmanRicardo Alfonsín upon the latter's August 2010 announcement of a presidential bid in2011.[7]
His son, filmmakerNicolás Gil Lavedra, announced the production in 2011 ofEstela, abiographical film on the life ofGrandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo leaderEstela Barnes de Carlotto[8] (whose testimony the elder Gil Lavedra took as part of the Trial of the Juntas in 1985).[2]
