Vivian Polania: Judge suspended for 3 months for smoking and appearing semi-nude on Zoom hearing
BOGOTA, COLUMBIA: In a bizarre incident, a Colombian judge was recorded attending her Zoom court hearing semi-nude and smoking. The incident was reported by a solicitor triggering investigation and the judge has been now slammed with a three-month suspension. Vivian Polania, was seen lying on her bed, while many believe she may have been under the influence of alcohol. The 34-year-old soon turned off her camera after being warned by one of the attendees that her camera is on and the session is being recorded. The 33-second video had gone viral since then.
A disciplinary commission told Polania, to stay away from her official duties until February, 2023, as further investigation can take place. The judge was in news two years ago when she was criticized for posing racy photos over her social media handle, showing off her muscles from the workout and tattoos on her body while wearing G-strings. However, she hit back at her critics, and vowed to post similar posts and defending herself, “Not all judges, lawyers and other state employees are the same. What I wear and show on my social media is my decision and I'm not going to change a thing.”
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On her Instagram profile, she refers herself to be "braless and open-minded." Polania went to a private Catholic university and is based in the city of Cucuta near Colombia’s border with Venezuela. She is yet to make any comment on her suspension.
During that controversy, the department let go the issue, while many claimed that she is compromising the administration of justice by "affecting the public’s confidence in her abilities to do her job properly."
The reports during that period suggested that she is facing internal investigation amid sharing cheeky snaps of herself in lingerie to claim clothing discounts. The suspended judge, whose full name is Heidy Vivian Polania Franco, appeared to be struggling with her words on the video while lying in bed. The hearing was supposed to decide on whether a man held for allegedly carrying a car bomb terrorist attack in June, 2021 should be let out on bail or not, according to the Daily Mail.
Colombia's National Commission of Judicial Ethics said in a written ruling on the suspension, “It is a duty of this commission to avoid repeating the judge's contempt for the investiture of her position and the contempt she showed with her peers in the public prosecutor's office, the prosecution and the defence. We find no justification for the judge to have presented herself in such deplorable conditions when she had the facilities of her own home and all the amenities necessary to prepare for a public hearing appropriately and with the respect such a hearing deserved.”