The information that the cell phone of Fernando Andrés Sabag Montiel, arrested for trying to shoot Vice President Cristina Kirchner, had its data erased while it was being analyzed by the police, generated a scandal in Argentina, with friction between two divisions of the security forces and the convening of experts by the court handling the case.
Montiel, a 35-year-old Brazilian with a criminal record, was arrested after trying to shoot Cristina in the face as she arrived home in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires on Thursday (1st).
According to the newspapers La Nación and El Clarín, after a series of failed attempts to unlock the Samsung-branded cell phone he was carrying, the Federal Police sent the device to the Airport Security Police (PSA), which reported having more modern software. to access information.
When the PSA experts managed to open it, however, the message “phone factory reset” appears, which means that the data has been erased from the phone’s memory.
The investigation into the contents of Sabag’s phone was ordered by the court to determine whether he acted individually or as part of an organization.
This Monday (5), technology experts from the Federal Police and the Airport Security Police were urgently summoned by Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti, responsible for the case, to determine whether the content can be recovered.
Confiscated on Thursday night after the arrest of Sabag Montiel, the cell phone was initially stored in the courtroom safe and then reportedly taken in a car, under escort, to the PSA laboratory.
Sources told La Nación that the device was in an envelope and in airplane mode so it wouldn’t receive interference. PSA stated that it received the cell phone already formatted, as if it were new, with no data stored.
This Monday (5), the Minister of Security, Aníbal Fernández, denied that the Federal Police had manipulated the cell phone. The minister also said that security protocols were complied with on the day of the attempted attack, but added that “the first thing” he did after the incident was to place his resignation at the disposal of President Alberto Fernández.
In an interview with El Destape radio, Horacio Pietragalla, the government’s secretary for human rights, described the event as “catastrophic”.
“This is crazy, if in a case like this, they end up deleting important data from a cell phone, well, let’s close everything,” he said.
On Monday, a man was arrested after posting a video on YouTube entitled “Our full support for the Brazilian hero who tried to do justice to the Argentines”. José Dermán, from the city of La Plata, was imprisoned in a far-right center. He will be investigated for “public intimidation” and “incitement to violence”.
Dermán had already been arrested for another case of digital harassment, following several complaints against him.
