Colombia’s government filed a lawsuit Thursday to make the judicial strike that has been going on since October 11 illegal.
The illegality lawsuit was filed by the Comptroller to the Supreme Court, stating that the Nation “is in serious risk of being affected materially (…) by the work stoppage,” reported newspaper La Semana.
According to Comproller “the collective suspension is illegal in the case of a public service” which the judicial branch provides. If the strike is deemed illegal, the strikers will have their salaries revoked.
Newspaper El Tiempo reported that the Minister of Justice, Ruth Stella Correa, is not only threatening to not pay judicial strikers salary, but that the strikers will be facing criminal charges if their strike results in the freedom of criminals who are not being tried in court.
The strike led by Asonal, the judicial branch syndicate, has shut down the majority of Colombia’s judicial system, beginning last month in an attempt to receive a bigger budget and higher wages for the judicial branch after a failed judicial reform.