A Colombian judge who was caught smoking in her underwear during an official hearing on Zoom has been suspended, a local news outlet has confirmed.
Judge Vivian Polania was on a Zoom call to determine whether a man who was being held over a bomb terror attack should be granted bail. However, during the call, she could be seen lying in bed dressed in nothing but a top and what appeared to be just her underwear, revealing her leg tattoo. She was also seen smoking a cigarette in the leaked 33-second clip.
One of the solicitors on the call reported her allegedly inappropriate behavior to the country's National Commission of Judicial Ethics, who have taken the accusations seriously, The Independent reported.
"In a video circulating on WhatsApp, Judge Vivian Polanía (she works at the Cúcuta Palace of Justice) is seen attending a judicial proceeding in her bed, half-naked and smoking. I don't know if this could lead to any sanction, but at least the scandal is already served," one person tweeted, accompanying a video that has been viewed over 400,000 times.
Previously, Polania has come under fire and received repeated warnings for her provocative images on Instagram, where she is often seen wearing lingerie and revealing clothing while in suggestive poses (including being topless in a shower).
She defended herself at the time of the warnings, claiming that the images were simply her way of expressing herself as a "braless and open-minded person," adding: "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."
Spanish-language daily newspaper El Pais has reported that the Commission of Judicial Ethics has taken great issue with the Zoom incident as it shows her conducting herself inappropriately in her professional sphere, rather than simply acting provocatively in the comfort of her own home.
As such, it has decided to suspend Polania until February 2023. In the ruling, it wrote that the judge had every amenity necessary at her disposal to make herself presentable for the call, even though it was virtual.
"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 defense," the Commission wrote in their ruling, per El Pais.
"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," it added.
Polania has since defended her actions, claiming that she had only laid down in bed because she was having an anxiety attack and that she suffers from low blood pressure.
She also has claimed that she's been targeted by fellow legal professionals who don't approve of her antics, saying that they had advised her: "If I did not change my way of being they were going to open a disciplinary investigation."
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