Federal judge María Eugenia Capuchetti imposed this Sunday the summary secrecy in the investigation of the attack against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in which this Sunday declared Mario Bongarelli, who He claimed to be “known” to the defendant, Fernando André Sabag Montiel, and assured under oath that he truly believed him “capable of committing the act,” judicial sources reported.
The witness voluntarily handed over his cell phone to be examined, in the presence of prosecutor Carlos Rivolo and the official defender of the detainee, Juan Hermida.
Before testifying in court, Bongarelli had given a note on television where he introduced himself as a “friend” of Sabag Montiel.
The magistrate also received throughout the day in the federal courts of Retirement a statement from the computer experts who explained the reasons why the cell phone of the detainee Sabag Montiel did a “reset” and returned to “factory state”, judicial sources reported.
The magistrate took a statement in the morning from the computer experts of the Federal Police and the Airport Security Police (PSA), who explained what they did with the defendant’s cell phone, his SIM card and the chip.
In the case of the latter two, the content that “is under analysis” was extracted.
In relation to the reset of the cell phone to the factory state, the experts detailed the reasons why this could happen and did not rule out that it could have been activated remotely or due to some error when trying to access the device. In his case, the extraction of information was not achieved.
Meanwhile, the expert opinion on the HP laptop computer that was seized from the defendant’s home ended and it was ordered to analyze the material obtained.
The cell phone that Sabag Montiel, the aggressor arrested for the attack against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was carrying, was reset at the time that Justice was trying to extract information, so that fundamental evidence for the investigation is at risk of being lost.
The fact generated criticism from the ruling party and the opposition, who demanded “answers” from the Justice amid conflicting versions between the court in charge of the case and the security forces, mainly the Airport Security Police (PSA).
To explain this technical event, the two PSA technicians to whom the legend appeared that gave an account of a possible formatting of the phone declared from 9 this Sunday, and then the federal police officers who manipulated the device did so.
The reset was detected when the equipment arrived at the hands of the PSA on Friday night, in the context of the case for the attack suffered by the Vice President last Thursday.
That security force received the device from the personal custody of Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti: it was turned on, inside an open envelope and it is not confirmed that it had been accompanied by any type of documentation..
The PSA received the cell phone at its headquarters in Ezeiza, on Friday night, hours after the device had been manipulated by technicians from the Argentine Federal Police (PFA), which was the first force to try to extract information in the presence of secretaries. of the court, the prosecution and the official defense, as they assured in from the court.
The phone traveled from the federal courts of Comodoro Py to the PSA headquarters in the magistrate’s personal custody orderin the same envelope in which he had arrived at the court hours before and which, of course, had already been formally opened.
During part of the journey that connects the Retiro neighborhood with the town of Ezeiza, a court clerk also traveled in the car and got off on the road.
Despite the inconvenience, from the court they claim to have all the documentary evidence that accounts for the chain of custody of the electronic device; something that other sources of the case question.
The phone had been seized when Sabag Montiel was arrested on Thursday night, after the attack on Fernández de Kirchner when he arrived at his home in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta: the assailant carried it in the pocket of his jacket.
The court, at this time, was evaluating requesting technological collaboration from the United States to advance with the cell phone’s expertise.
The test measures aim, among other things, to find out if the action was planned or, at least, previously discussed by the aggressor with his environment.
While, Lawyer Gregorio Dalbón, one of the lawyers representing Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, confirmed that the former president’s request to join the lawsuit in the case investigating the assassination attempt “is ready”.and assured that, in the event that irregularities are found in the process of manipulating the accused’s cell phone, those responsible will be accused of “negligence and aggravated cover-up.”
In dialogue with Télam, Dalbón explained the steps that he will follow starting Monday and said that “The complaint is ready for the Vice President’s signature, which will be done on Monday.”
“Once I sign, I will go to the Courts of Comodoro Py to file it and ask to speak with the judge and the prosecutor so that they can give me an explanation of the negligence and/or what they consider to have happened in relation to the loss of cell phone data. of the defendant,” he continued.
For Dalbon, “In the event that the court recognizes the negligence of such important evidence, a criminal case will be initiated against all those responsible for the investigation, including Judge Capuchetti and the prosecutor Carlos Rívolo, the Federal Police, the Aeronautical Police, personnel of the court, and all those who had access to the custody of the defendant’s telephone”pointed out Dalbón, who clarified that in his opinion it would be “negligence and aggravated cover-up”.
Government officials and pro-government legislators demanded “answers” from the Justice before the versions that the technical expertise of the security forces had failed in the task of recovering the cell phone information.
Repercussions and questions
“If this really happened, it seems that the Judiciary is charging us. A cause that is worldwide commotion and these things happen”maintained the secretary of Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla, in the same way that the deputy of the Frente de Todos (FdT) Rodolfo Tailhade expressed: “Any doubt that Judge Capuchetti and prosecutor Rívolo are working to cover up the assassination attempt against Christina?”
His fellow block Leopoldo Moreau expressed himself in the same sense. “How is it possible that the cell phone was delivered by the court to the PSA in an open envelope and without a chain of custody? Rather than asking the experts about their actions, one should ask how the device left the court in those conditions”.
The president of the block of Deputies of the UCR, Mario Negri, maintained on Twitter that this party demanded on Saturday in the session of Congress that “the truth and the ultimate consequences be reached” in the case, although he warned that “the loss of information from Cristina’s assailant’s phone, which is in the possession of the federal security forces, is terrible news”.
The deputy of the Front of the Left Myriam Bregman also showed her repudiation: “The cell phone is unacceptable. When the genocidal Héctor Febres was murdered, his computer was left in Federal custody. She appeared erased and nothing could be recovered despite the attempts made by the plaintiffs; we sent it to experts in France and they couldn’t“, he recalled.
