Overview
- Rafael Ruíz Hidalgo was formally sworn in as a titular member of the Junta Nacional de Justicia in a ceremony held at the Defensoría del Pueblo, which took place Friday and included the JNJ president and the attorney general.
- His return follows a judicial order from the First Constitutional Court of Lima that nullified the JNJ's April 2025 decision to vacate him for failing to report a 2010 conviction for the crime of prevaricato.
- The court found the JNJ's use of Article 11 to bar Ruiz Hidalgo amounted to an excessive or arbitrary extension of penal norms, a legal finding that underpinned the immediate repossession order.
- With Ruiz Hidalgo back on the panel, the JNJ plenary now has the quorum needed to resume key duties such as selecting, evaluating and disciplining judges, prosecutors and heads of control offices.
- The case layers media disclosure, administrative vetting and judicial review: investigative reporting revealed the 2010 sentence, the JNJ applied strict eligibility rules to remove him, and the judiciary overruled that administrative interpretation, raising questions about future vetting and transparency.