Ricardo Gil Lavedra (born 24 July 1949) is an Argentine lawyer, magistrate, and politician. A member of the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

, Gil Lavedra served as

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

during the early presidency of

Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecuti ...

, from 1999 to 2000. From 2009 to 2013, he was a member of 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 ...

elected in Buenos Aires.

Early life and education

Ricardo Rodolfo Gil Lavedra was born in Buenos Aires in 1949. He enrolled 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 ...

Law School, and earned a ''

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

'' in 1972. He was named Secretary to the Supreme Court 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 ...

in 1973, and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

in the provincial Court of First Instance in 1974. He was hired as Vice President of Legal Affairs for the Pérez Companc Group in 1979.Ricardo Gil Lavedra: curriculum vitae
/ref>

Career

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 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 ...

, presiding over the trial in its early phase. His

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Law of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Austra ...

of both witnesses and defendants reportedly focused on exploring the extent of

criminal organization In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

s that existed among the

Dirty War The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...

perpetrators.Margulis, Alejandro: Estela de Carlotto, presidenta de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
He was appointed Assistant Minister of Interior by 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 ...

in 1988, and from 1987 to 1995, served as Vice President of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Committee Against Torture. 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 President

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 President Carlos Álvarez and three other cabinet members) in October. President de la Rúa himself resigned a year later. Medalla del Bicentenario a los magistrados

Medalla del Bicentenario a los magistrados

Gil Lavedra served as an Associate Judge in the

Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court H.R.) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a human r ...

between 2001 and 2003, and in the Argentine Supreme Court, between 2002 and 2005. He wrote numerous articles on

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

and

legal theory Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

beginning in 1977, including ''An Overview of Constitutional Amendments in Latin America'' in 2002. He also served as legal advisor for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

, and is a member of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and other Argentine jurisprudence associations. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation () is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 1854, pursuant to Articles 46 to 54 of the 185 ...

on the center-left UCR ticket in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, and in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, was elected to the

as a UCR member of the Social and Civic Agreement. He endorsed fellow UCR Congressman Ricardo Alfonsín upon the latter's August 2010 announcement of a presidential bid in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Personal life

His son, filmmaker Nicolás Gil Lavedra, announced the production in 2011 of ''Estela'', a

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

on the life of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo leader Estela Barnes de Carlotto''Urgente 24'' (12 Jan 2011)
/ref> (whose testimony the elder Gil Lavedra took as part of the Trial of the Juntas in 1985).

External links

Personal websiteArgentine Chamber of Deputies site

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil Lavedra, Ricardo 1949 births Living people Argentine people of Spanish descent University of Buenos Aires alumni 20th-century Argentine judges 21st-century Argentine judges Argentine officials of the United Nations Ministers of justice of Argentina Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Argentine deputies 2009–2011 Argentine deputies 2011–2013 Inter-American Court of Human Rights judges Argentine judges of international courts and tribunals Lawyers from Buenos Aires