The Attorney General of the Costa Rica, Emilia Navas announced on Friday that she will resign and retire in August, after criticism of her inability to prosecute major cases.
The Judicial Investigation Police this week reported they have recorded 555 murders this year, just two less than the total number of homicides recorded in 2015. Crime figures last year prompted OIJ to declare 2015 as Costa Rica's most violent year in record.
Debate over the need for specialized judges and courts to review drug trafficking cases followed the arrest of a prominent judge in the Caribbean province of Limón, Judge Rosa Elena Gamboa, in May 2014.
Costa Rica's Chief Public Prosecutor Jorge Chavarría has confirmed the arrest on Wednesday of the head of the Judicial Investigation Police, or OIJ, in the central Pacific town of Quepos. The OIJ boss, surnamed Solano, is accused of illegally detaining three North Americans, whose names have not yet been released, in an apparent land dispute with an alleged drug trafficker.
In 2000, a total of 841 cases were resolved by a single court, meaning they ended without any appeals to higher courts. But that number dropped to 486 by 2013, according to the report.
All 53 lawmakers present at a Monday session of the Legislative Assembly voted in favor of removing Supreme Court Justice Óscar González Camacho from the bench, just days before González would have retired. The unanimous vote means González now will face a criminal trial on six counts of alleged rape and one count of attempted rape.
A Legislative Assembly hearing to discuss the possible removal of Supreme Court Justice Óscar González Camacho of the court's Civil Chamber, or Sala I, was postponed until Monday. González faces six criminal charges of rape and one charge of attempted rape.
Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, or Sala IV, on Tuesday agreed to review the appointment of Melvin Jiménez Marín, a Lutheran bishop, as President Luis Guillermo Solís' presidency minister.
