Mexican president says authorities must examine alleged plagiarism by top judge

MEXICO CITY, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday stated authorities ought to resolve a case of alleged plagiarism by a Supreme Court docket justice he nominated who’s within the working to take the helm of the nation’s prime tribunal.

Justice Yasmin Esquivel was this week accused by Mexican information outlet Latinus of plagiarizing her 1987 college undergraduate thesis, prompting requires her to step down.

Esquivel known as the media report “completely false,” and on Twitter posted letters of assist from teachers who supervised her thesis and additional research.

When requested in regards to the case throughout an everyday information convention, Lopez Obrador stated it was as much as authorities to resolve the matter, and famous he couldn’t be wholly goal on it.

He sidestepped questions on whether or not Esquivel ought to be faraway from her put up, saying: “It is going to be regardless of the judiciary or the right authority decides.”

He then lashed out at these criticizing Esquivel, arguing that any “mistake” or “anomaly” made by her as a scholar was “infinitely smaller” than the harm that they had achieved.

“All of those that are asking for the justice to be punished have dedicated worse crimes,” he stated.

The Supreme Court docket didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The spouse of a enterprise ally of Lopez Obrador, Esquivel joined the courtroom in 2019, and is vying to take over from Chief Justice Arturo Zaldivar when his time period concludes on Dec. 31.

The 11 justices of the courtroom are on account of elect Zaldivar’s successor in January.

Mexico’s Nationwide Autonomous College (UNAM), the place Esquivel offered her thesis, stated on Thursday it will analyze the case and act in keeping with college guidelines.

The Latinus story linked to archived copies from the UNAM web site of a thesis attributed to her and one other revealed a 12 months earlier with an identical title. The 2 paperwork confirmed lengthy passages which can be almost similar. Her thesis was shorter.

Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico Metropolis
Further reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico Metropolis
Modifying by Dave Graham and Matthew Lewis

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