The Argentine court ordered the release of one of the young women suspected of participating in the assassination attempt on Cristina Kirchner, according to a decision released this Tuesday (1).
Three other suspects remain in detention – including Brazilian Fernando Sabag Montiel, 35, arrested after pulling the trigger of a pistol against the vice president’s face, and his girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, 23. The couple is charged with attempted murder.
The Appeals Chamber concluded that there was insufficient evidence to keep Agustina Díaz, 21, incarcerated. According to the instance, she only exchanged WhatsApp messages with Uliarte about the attack after it, that is, she did not participate in its planning. The decision is not final.
The messages, whose veracity was confirmed by Díaz in a statement, point to the possibility that Uliarte was the mastermind behind the crime. In one of them, for example, Sabag’s girlfriend says: “Today I’m going to become San Martín [herói da independência argentina], I will have Cristina killed. I got tired that we just talk and talk and do nothing. I, yes, will. The spirit of San Martín has entered my body.”
Meanwhile, the Chamber maintained the preventive detention of Gabriel Carrizo, 27 years old. He would own a cotton candy cart seen on the nights before the crime on the corner of Cristina’s house. For the police, this was a strategy for the group to blend in with the crowd, without drawing attention, in order to monitor the situation and choose the best time for Sabag to finally approach the vice president.
In the same decision, the instance determined that the judge proceed “with urgency” to the oral arguments against the three defendants, while the police investigation into the case continues. It also ordered the investigation of all those in charge of Kirchner’s security.
The failed assassination attempt took place on September 1, in front of Cristina’s apartment, in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Sabag, who has tattoos with Nazi symbols all over his body, was arrested in the act, and his girlfriend, three days later.
TV channels captured images of the former president leaving her car, surrounded by a crowd of supporters. At one point, she ducks her head as someone with what appears to be a pistol approaches within three feet of her. Images published on social media show the moment from different angles, including facing politics.
Two months after the attack, the police were unable to establish the degree of organization of the suspects, and are still investigating their cell phones. So far, they have only revealed hateful messages from Uliarte to Kirchner and an alleged link with an ultra-right group that is investigated in another lawsuit.
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