Javier Vega, the senator’s lawyer Gustavo Penadespresented a opposition appeal on advance declaration of the nine victims who declared before the prosecutor Alicia Ghione to have been sexually abused when they were minors.
This was reported by El País and confirmed The Observer with research sources. Although there are nine victims who reported having been abused, there are eleven people in total who testified in the case, the sources added.
The appeal presented now must be answered by the defenses of the victims and then it will be analyzed by a Court of Appeals.
Both investigated in the cause, for the moment, are penades –whose fueros were raised by the Chamber of Senators– and the history teacher, Sebastian Mauvezinaccused of acting as a link between the legislator and minors.
Prosecutor Ghione requested the advance declaration of the victims and emphasized the need to do so “urgently” when she based the request for exemption.
As reported The Observer, Ghione handles tentative dates but not even the victims know exactly. This is because the prosecution wants to handle the issue with extreme reserve, sources in the case explained to The Observer.
When these types of hearings are held, they are usually summoned several days in advance, but due to the publicity of this case and its sensitivity, there is coordination between the different people responsible for the case so that the time between the summons and the hearing is as short as possible. possible. In this way, they try to prevent the information from leaking and people unrelated to the case from going to court on those dates.
The sources consulted estimate that the hearings will be held within a month. When it happens, the victims will tell the Gessel Camera – which Judge Marcela Vargas and also the defendants will be able to listen to live – what they recounted in the Prosecutor’s Office and will answer the questions that they will previously negotiate between the Ghione team and the defense lawyers of those investigated, Javier Vega and Juan Fernández Lecchini, who represents Professor Sebastián Mauvezin.
Why is it so important that this instance is not frustrated? So far, the nine victims have testified before the prosecution, but these testimonies have no validity in a trial. That must be ratified in front of a judge. For this to happen, it was necessary for Penadés to be free of parliamentary privileges, since she must appear in court in that instance.
