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 ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the S ...

, 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) was an Argentine politician and a member of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) political party who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1999 to 21 December 2001. De la Rúa was born in ...

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

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( es, Cámara de Diputados de la Nación), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress ( es, Congreso de la Nación). It is made up of 257 ...

elected in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Early life and education

Ricardo Rodolfo Gil Lavedra was born in

in 1949. He enrolled at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most presti ...

Law School, and earned a ''

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

'' in 1972. He was named Secretary to the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires in 1973, and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

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 ( es, Juicio a las 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 last ...

, presiding over the trial in its early phase. His

cross-examination In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and ...

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

criminal organization Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

s that existed among the

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

perpetrators.Margulis, Alejandro: Estela de Carlotto, presidenta de Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo
He was appointed Assistant Minister of Interior by President Raúl Alfonsín in 1988, and from 1987 to 1995, served as Vice President of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

Committee Against Torture The Committee Against Torture (CAT) is a treaty body of human rights experts that monitors implementation of the United Nations Convention against Torture by state parties. The Committee is one of eight UN-linked human rights treaty bodies. Al ...

. 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 (IACHR or IACtHR) 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 hum ...

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 fe ...

and

legal theory Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

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)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

, and is a member of the

Permanent Assembly for Human Rights The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (in Spanish, La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH)) is an Argentine non-governmental human rights organization; founded in 1975. According to its official website the organization is the pr ...

and other Argentine jurisprudence associations. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the

Argentine Senate The Honorable Senate of the Argentine Nation ( es, Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina) is the upper house of the National Congress of Argentina. Overview The National Senate was established by the Argentine Confederation on July 29, 18 ...

on the center-left UCR ticket in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, and in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, was elected to the

as a UCR member of the

Social and Civic Agreement The Social and Civic Agreement ( es, Acuerdo Cívico y Social, ACyS) was a center-left congressional alliance in Argentina, integrated by the Radical Civic Union (UCR) the Socialist Party (PS) and the Civic Coalition ARI (CC-ARI), which acted as ...

. He endorsed fellow UCR Congressman Ricardo Alfonsín upon the latter's August 2010 announcement of a presidential bid in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

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 a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

on the life of

Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...

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 Inter-American Court of Human Rights judges Argentine judges of international courts and tribunals Lawyers from Buenos Aires