Judge Alejandro Gabriel López, who found himself at the center of controversy over a ruling that acquitted the union leaders who blockaded a company and laid siege to the city of San Nicolás, is facing the first impeachment request. The former mayor of San Nicolás, Manuel Passaglia, formally filed the complaint before the Permanent Secretariat of the Jury of Impeachment for Magistrates and Officials of the Province of Buenos Aires. Judge López serves on Oral Criminal Court No. 2 of the San Nicolás Judicial Department. The filing seeks an investigation into the magistrate's conduct for possible misconduct and serious dereliction of his duties in issuing the acquittal verdict on October 14, 2026. The case tried the episodes that occurred in early 2021 at the plant of the company Rey Distribución S. R. L. In that case, Maximiliano Cabaleyro and other leaders faced charges of disturbance of possession, coercion in attempted degree, and extortion following a series of labor actions that prevented the distributor from operating and from vehicles leaving its premises. With legal sponsorship from attorney Ignacio Mateucci, the filing argues that the judge committed serious deficiencies when justifying the right to strike. Among the central points of the complaint:"Judicializing the strike was an absurdity," wrote Judge López when acquitting the Camioneros unionists who blocked the access routes to San Nicolás, despite the fact that the prosecution had requested 10 years in prison for the crimes of disturbance of possession, coercion, extortion, and threats. López joined Oral Court No. 2 of San Nicolás in 2019, during María Eugenia Vidal's administration. The Buenos Aires Senate approved him unanimously, through an agreement between Peronism and Juntos por el Cambio. In a 120-page verdict, López held that the blockades of the Rey distributor were an exercise of the right to strike and that there was not "a single witness" against Maximiliano Cabaleyro who saw him receive or demand money. In the surprising reversal against the request for imprisonment, López signed a verdict that harshly criticized the prosecution and the complainants. Then-Governor María Eugenia Vidal appointed López by decree 1178/19, after the approval of his nomination. The court was new, created by law 14.612, and the Buenos Aires Supreme Court set the start of its activities for November 11, 2019. The ruling was condemned by Buenos Aires provincial lawmaker Manuel Pasaglia, who was mayor of San Nicolás at the time of the aggression, and who called López a "guarantor judge.""Yet another example of a guarantor judge; they blockaded a company, they blockaded a city; and nothing happens," Passaglia tweeted on X."All the residents of San Nicolás remember when these mafiosos, hand in hand with the Moyanos, tried to make our city collapse: they blocked the access routes and prevented the delivery of food and garbage collection," he added in his message. And he concluded: "It was the people of San Nicolás who endured and resisted. And in the end we forced their hand. That is why decisions like this judge's are a step backward. Because they give power back to those who blockade, pressure, and extort, and harm those who work, produce, and obey the law." The judge found as proven the two blockades of the Rey Distribución transport company, in San Pedro: the one on January 15, 2021, and the one from February 22 to 25 of that year. But he said they do not constitute a criminal offense, but rather part of the exercise of the right to strike. He said the Penal Code "excludes liability for anyone acting 'in the legitimate exercise of a right.'" With that argument, he acquitted Cabaleyro and six other defendants: Maximiliano Pérez, Carlos and Enzo Ojeda, Matías and Lucas Torrez, and Edgardo Di Mayo. López rejected that the right to property and the right to strike should be weighed as equivalents. "This line of argumentation would only allow reaching the conclusion that no strike is legitimate. There is no way the right to strike can be exercised without affecting other rights," he wrote. The blockade of the plant caused the temporary isolation of the city and generated great indignation among residents. The verdict also questioned the use of telephone wiretaps, which according to the judge was "disproportionate" for a "meager result." The prosecution, led by María del Valle Viviani and Verónica Marcantonio, had requested ten years in prison. The complaint by the Rey family, sponsored by Senator Florencia Arietto (LLA), sought 15. The prosecutors announced they will appeal. López had already been the protagonist of another controversial ruling when he ordered abuser Pablo Javier Gordillo to serve a five-year prison sentence under the house arrest modality. Gordillo had been found guilty by a popular jury of the crime of aggravated sexual abuse with serious degrading treatment. Type of work:News Original