Federal Judge Federico Villena issued this Friday the lack of merit of the five crew members of the Venezuelan plane of the Emtrasur company and authorized them to leave the country, in a ruling that determines that there is no consistent evidence to prosecute them for carrying out activities linked to terrorism.
The magistrate’s resolution reaches the Iranians Gholamreza Ghasemi (pilot of the ship) Abdolbaset Mohammadi, Saeid Valizadeh and the Venezuelans Víctor Manuel Pérez and Mario Arraga Urdaneta, who They were held in Argentina since June 6.
The judge also ordered the return of his travel documents and ordered to leave the precautionary measure that weighs on the aircraft without effect license plate YV3531 of the Emtrasur company, according to judicial sources.
The crew members were investigated fifteen days ago based on a request made by the DAIA, constituted as a plaintiff in this case, and which accused the Emtrasur company of diverting funds to finance terrorist activities.
“When the elements of judgment do not authorize the issuance of the indictment and, at the same time, they do not have the authority to rule out the existence of the act, its criminal nature or the responsibility of the accused -which would make its dismissal appropriate- the judge must order lack of merit,” the judge held in the ruling.
In the accusation, it was mentioned that the plane could be used to make trips between Syria and Iran through an airline linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah organization, but for the judge there are no elements to prosecute the crew.
The magistrate stated that collected so far 118 pieces of evidence in the fileand recalled that there are still procedures that must be completed, such as letters rogatory sent to Spain, Aruba, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay, and an accounting expert report.
A month ago, the Federal Chamber of La Plata imposed a deadline to resolve the situation of these five crew members who had been investigated in the case.
On September 26, Villena dismissed the remaining 14 of the 19 crew members of the Emtrasur plane that arrived in Argentina on June 6.
On that occasion, in addition, he ordered the lifting of the ban on leaving the country on two crew members who had not yet been able to leave Buenos Aires and the return of their travel documents, as was known through the resolution to which he had access. Tel.
“Neither the intervening Federal Prosecutor’s Office nor the Complaint have requested the investigations” of the 14 mentioned, and “that is why there is no other solution than to dismiss them,” Villena had maintained.
