Lawyers Francisco Alvarez Valdez (Participación Ciudadana), Francisco Domínguez Brito (Fundación Institucionalidad y Justicia) Marisol Vicens Bello (Asociación Nacional de Jóvenes Ejecutivos) and Ramón Núñez said that judges are today afraid of adopting independent decisions as they fear their decisions will not be liked by Supreme Court judges and they will be removed from their posts. The ruling that would make all judges immovable has not been passed by the Supreme Court. "For some three years we have been requesting in writing to the Supreme Court of Justice the passing of the ruling, but to this day the immovability only benefits the judges of the high court," Alvarez told El Siglo. He commented on the case of a Santiago judge who granted a bail to a Mexican citizen and was suspended without prior trial once the Mexican Embassy complained. He also protested that a judge did not have the authority to summon the chief of the Police, Pedro Jesús Candelier to court. In an interview with El Siglo, the lawyers advocated the strengthening of the judicial branch. They explained that to this day it does not have sufficient strength so that its decisions be accepted by society, without discussions. "We are still at a level when things are haggled over, as occurred in the case of the judge of the Eighth Penal Chamber, Modesto Martínez who summoned Candelier. Alvarez said the nation still needs to reach the point where the state is subject to pre-established rules of the game, that is, to the law.
