Two days ago, the Emtrasur crew was called to testify at the request of the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA). In the opinion of this association, these people “proceeded to obtain money and/or goods by carrying out a lawful commercial operation with the intention of being used or knowing that they will be used in whole or in part to finance a terrorist organization.”
The Venezuelan mechanic José García Contreras and the Iranian Mohammad Khosraviaragh, both crew members of the Aerocargo del Sur Transport Company (Emtrasur) plane held in Argentina since June, will be able to leave that country after the lifting of the prohibition measure.
Judge Federico Villena, of the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court of Lomas de Zamora 1, ratified the decision. With these two, there are now 14 freed plane crew members, he refers to the Embassy of Venezuela in Argentina.
In Villena’s decision, the two crew members are “acquitted of all guilt, declared innocent” and “dismissed in the legal cases that were opened to them.” According to the information disclosed by the Venezuelan diplomatic representation in Buenos Aires, the process does not affect “the good name and honor that they would have enjoyed”, in reference to those released.
2/4 With them 2, there are already 14 crew members of the plane #EMTRASUR acquitted of all guilt, declared innocent and as resolved by Judge Villena, dismissed in the legal cases that were opened
– Embassy of Venezuela in Argentina (@EmbaVEArgentina) September 28, 2022
There are five other crew members who are being held in Argentina due to investigations of alleged terrorism carried out by Judge Villena. They are the Iranians Gholamreza Ghasemi, Abdolbaset Mohammadi and Saeid Vali Zadeh; in addition to the Venezuelans Víctor Pérez Gómez (Operations General Manager) and Mario Arraga Urdaneta.
Two days ago, the crew in Argentina was called to testify at the request of the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA). In the opinion of this association, these people “proceeded to obtain money and/or goods by carrying out a lawful commercial operation with the intention of being used or knowing that they will be used in whole or in part to finance a terrorist organization.”
To carry out this operation, the DAIA indicated that Mario Arraga Urdaneta and Víctor Pérez Gómez, using their hierarchical positions within Emtrasur, “would have opened bank accounts in different countries and/or formed companies linked to air activity.”
While Gholamreza Ghasemi and Abdolbaset Mohammadi, as flight captain and backup engineer respectively and under the guise of being instructors, “would be the links” with the Quds Forces and Hezbollah, according to the DAIA.
12 of the 19 crew members have already returned to Venezuela, including a citizen of Iranian origin, after September 13 the Court of Appeals ordered his release. The magistrates warned at that time that the case offers “a singular complexity” and that Argentina is subject to supranational obligations aimed at preventing and fighting terrorism. For this reason, and the amount of evidence presented to date, delays in judicial decisions were justified.
On June 6, the Boeing 747-300 aircraft with registration YV3531 – which was owned by the Iranian company Mahan Air and currently belongs to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Conviasa, both sanctioned by the US Treasury Department – entered Argentina with a crew of 19 people, five Iranians and 14 Venezuelans.
The plane arrived in Argentina from Mexico, with a stopover in Venezuela, and two days later took off to go to Uruguay to refuel, but landed again in Argentina because the neighboring country did not allow it to land. The Argentine oil companies did not load fuel on the plane for fear of US sanctions and later, on June 11, it was reported that the Argentine government had ordered the immobilization of the aircraft.
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