court prosecutor, John Gomezsupported the actions of the prosecutor Gabriela Fossatiresponsible for investigating the criminal gang that falsified documents and that was made up of Alejandro Astesiano, the former chief of custody of the president Luis Lacalle Pou.
Gomez added that the The Prosecutor’s Office will allow Fossati –currently licensed in Europe– dedicate of exclusively for researchso it will not be on duty for other types of cases.
“Dr. Fossati is working on a very difficult case, she has our support, we have made available to her the elements that the Prosecutor’s Office can dispose of. Even anticipating the difficulties involved in this research, we exonerated her from working shifts for –I think– two months”Gómez said this Wednesday at a press conference recorded by Channel 5.
“We have supported that investigation in the way that we should support it, and obviously has the full support of this subrogated court prosecutor”he added.
Fossati investigates the actions of the gang made up of Astesiano, which falsified documents of Russian citizens so that they could access Uruguayan documentation. In total, the situation of 174 passportsaccording to research, 124 of them issued before 2019.
After Judge Patricia Rodríguez rejected the requests for red alerts, Interpol issued – at the request of Fossati and with the consent of the Judiciary – a series of blue color alerts with the objective of have data on some Russians who received Uruguayan passports with apocryphal birth certificates.
The prosecutor is investigating whether the consulate in Moscow had any degree of involvement in the criminal organization.
Within the framework of this line of investigation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs moved from the Consular Affairs Division to the ex-consul of Uruguay in Russia. The official worked in Consular Affairs and Liaison, an area that is responsible for document management, but was sent to the Artigas Institute of the Foreign Service (IASE) while an internal investigation is carried out.
There are several defendants in the Astesian case, including the custodian himself, Russian Alexei Slivaevthe notary public Álvaro Fernández and his wife Patricia Medina.
Increase in violence
On the other hand, Gómez was concerned about the increase in violence in the country, and indicated: “Those of us who have responsibility have to think about the best way to attack this situation, which is unfortunate.”
For the court prosecutor before “You didn’t see” a case like that of the woman who appeared dismembered in the Peñarol neighborhood. “I believe that They are messages that some organized criminal group sends indicating the type of actions that can be fulfilled, surely to strike fear into other people”Gomez detailed.
According to the hierarch, these groups are “gangs, small local groups that dispute territory” and “market”. “I have no evidence that there are foreign criminal gangs based in Uruguay”pointed out the judicial officer.
Asked about how he analyzes the work against the situation of violence, he stated that “the good way will tell the time, the results”.
