León Arslanián (born November 30, 1941) is an Argentine lawyer, jurist and public official who notably served as Chief Justice in the tribunal that presided over the 1985

Trial of the Juntas The Trial of the Juntas () was the judicial trial of the members of the ''de facto'' military government that ruled Argentina during the dictatorship of the '' Proceso de Reorganización Nacional'' (''el Proceso''), which lasted from 1976 to 1 ...

Life and times

León Carlos Arslanián was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. His father was an

Armenian Argentine Armenian Argentines (; ) are ethnic Armenians who live in Argentina. Estimates vary, but 165,000 people of Armenians, Armenian ancestry live in the country, forming one of the largest groups in the Armenian diaspora worldwide.Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

), in 1917. He enrolled at the

Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (''National School of Buenos Aires'') is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European ''gymnasium'' it provides a free educatio ...

and later at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, where he earned a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

. Arslanián was appointed to the National Criminal Court of Appeals in 1984 by the newly inaugurated government of President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

, and in this capacity, he served in the panel of judges overseeing the historic 1985

, presiding over the sentencing phase that concluded on December 9. He resigned his post in the National Criminal Court of Appeals in 1988, and joined fellow tribunal judge Jorge Torlasco in a private law practice. President

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

appointed Arslanián Minister of Justice on January 30, 1991. Arslanián succeeded in having the nation's

penal code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...

reformed to mandate oral testimony in all

criminal trial Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...

s, and enacted the creation of a

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

for the purpose. President Menem's appointment of two conservative figures to the new tribunal raised objections by Arslanián, however, and the Justice Minister resigned on September 6, 1992. Medalla del Bicentenario a los magistrados

Medalla del Bicentenario a los magistrados

He was designated president of the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Crime Prevention Institute on February 11, 1998, and on April 13, accepted the post as provincial Minister of Justice and Security from Governor

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...

. Arslanián proposed

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

measures, enacted stricter guidelines against

police misconduct Police misconduct is inappropriate conduct and illegal actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Types of misconduct include among others: sexual offences, false confession, coerced false confession, intimidation, ...

and streamlined criminal court proceedings, to which he attributed speedier rulings and a decline in crime rates in the province's coastal tourism hub, for example. His advocacy of secondary crime prevention policies centered around a more robust

social policy Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize social policy and public policy to be two separate, competing approaches for the same public interest (similar to MD a ...

. This stance, however, coincided with increased voter anxiety surrounding rising crime rates, as well as higher poll numbers for right-wing Unidád Bonaerense candidate Luis Patti. Governor Duhalde supported the Justice Minister and his policy; but following repeated criticism by the frontrunner,

Justicialist Party The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei. Fo ...

gubernatorial candidate

Carlos Ruckauf Carlos Federico Ruckauf (; born July 10, 1944) is a Peronist politician in Argentina, member of the Justicialist Party. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from January 2002 to March 2003. He had earlier served as Vice-President of Argentina ...

, Arslanián resigned on August 5. Ruckauf was elected governor and appointed far-right former '' Carapintadas'' mutineer Aldo Rico as Arslanián's successor.''Diario Perfil'' (Nov 2007)
/ref> He returned to public service in April 2004, when Buenos Aires Governor

Felipe Solá Felipe Solá (born 23 July 1950) is an Argentine agricultural engineer and politician. He previously served as Governor of Buenos Aires Province, from 2002 to 2007, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship under President Alberto Fernández ...

named him Minister of Security. He established a

9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...

emergency dialing system, and moved to delegate

Provincial Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...

powers to a number of auxiliary departments. Ongoing reports of

police corruption Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which a law enforcement officer breaks their political contract and abuses their power for personal gain. A corrupt officer may act alone or as part of a group. Corrupt acts include taking ...

prompted the Minister's dismissal of up to 5,000 officers; but budgeting restrictions limited the formation of the new auxiliary forces. Arrests rose by 91% during Arslanián's tenure despite these problems; but opposition figures reiterated claims that he was "soft on crime" as elections approached in 2007, deriding Arslanián as the "Minister of Insecurity." He stepped down from the post in December and returned to private practice. He joined the Democratic Security Agreement (ASD), a progressive

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as lobby groups, interest groups, special interest groups, pressure groups, or public associations, use various forms of advocacy or lobbying to influence public opinion and ultimately public policy. They play an impor ...

dealing with crime prevention, and in 2010 presented a proposal to the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

for the creation of a Crime Observation Office to better quantify and examine crime trends and causes in Argentina.''Página/12'' (24 Nov 2010)
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arslanian, Leon 1941 births Living people Argentine people of Armenian descent Lawyers from Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires alumni 20th-century Argentine judges Argentine criminologists