An Argentine judge has ruled in favor of an admitted Nazi who refused to have a Jewish prosecutor handle a case involving her.
In September 1995, lawyer Liliana Bonavonta was notified that her former husband was filing charges against her for not allowing him to visit their son.
Bonavonta asked the judge in charge of the case who the prosecutor would be.
When she was told that the case was to be taken by attorney Daniel Pablobsky, she reportedly said: “It had to be a Jew” and “I am a Nazi and refuse to have him in the case.”
Upon hearing Bonavonta’s remarks, Pablobsky excused himself from the case and filed discrimination charges against her.
Last Friday, Judge Gabriel Cavallo ruled in favor of Bonavonta in the discrimination suit.
Cavallo described Bonavonta’s remarks regarding Pablobsky as “puerile,” “offensive” and “highly intolerant,” but added that they did not constitute a crime.
“Bonavonta’s attitude does not imply calling for a persecution or for racial hatred,” Cavallo wrote in his decision. “The spirit of the remarks is hardly defensible, but is confined to Bonavonta’s conscience, outside the reach of the law.”
“Being a Nazi is not a crime,” the judge wrote, “although it is morally reprehensible.”
The Argentine Jewish umbrella organization DAIA is considering an appeal.
Pablobsky did not publicly comment on the outcome of the suit.
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