The presidential candidate of the National Liberation Party (PLN), Johnny Araya filed a constitutional motion to bring down a 15-day suspension from his post as mayor of San José, that imposed the Contraloría General de la República (Comptroller General) in 2010.
Araya argues in his action, filed last February 1, the Comptroller cannot administratively remove him without having started a judicial process against him. The presidential candidate is of the opinion, that the suspension “restricts political human righs protected by Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights”.
Araya is asking the Sala Constitucional or Sala IV (Constitutional Court) to declare the articles of the Ley General de Control Interno (Internal Control Act) which empowers the Comptroller to order the temporary removal or firing of public officials.
The action was filed by attorney Jorge Leiva, who in the past has filed against the same legislation, for the ministro de Seguridad Publica, Mario Zamora. That complaing served to brake the Araya ad a dozen other state employees, so that the Comptroller’s sanction not become effetive until now.
