Once again accompanied by a group of supporters, the former president of Argentina Mauricio Macri presented himself for a hearing in the court of Dolores, in the province of Buenos Aires, on Wednesday (3).
The former leader of the country is responding to the accusation of espionage against the relatives of the victims of the accident with the submarine ARA San Juan, which, when it sank in 2017 (during Macri’s administration), left 44 dead.
According to the indictment, the families of those involved in the tragedy were secretly watched by the government, which in turn would be looking for the charges they would bring to justice.
This is the fourth subpoena to the former president. In the first two, he did not attend because he was out of the country. In the third, the hearing was suspended due to a technical issue: the judge had not asked for Macri to be exempt from a mechanism called intelligence secret protection.
If released, the deponent could reveal strategies that are part of the national security orbit.
After this episode, the former president’s lawyers tried, once again, to prevent Judge MartÃn Bava, whom they accuse of acting in a political, not technical way, from continuing in the case. They were not successful.
So, on Wednesday, the former Argentine leader presented a letter in which he called the magistrate and the government incompetent, since the administration that succeeded him would have “introduced the process through the window”, a way of accusing rivals of speeding up the action to create problems for their allies in the legislative election on the 14th.
Therefore, an excerpt of the letter states that the “accusation only finds an explanation, sadly, in the electoral scenario in which we are”. The text continues: “I am sorry for the heroes who were victims in ARA San Juan and for their families, as well as I am sorry for our Republic, our institutions and for the health of the administration of justice.”
After delivering the letter, Macri remained silent for 40 minutes, not answering questions.
Upon leaving the court, the former president’s lawyer, Pablo Lanusse, reinforced the narrative that the judge would aim to help the Peronists. “Judge Bava had been with the case since June and only remembered to go ahead with it after September 12,” he said, referring to the date on which the ruling alliance was heavily defeated in the primaries of the legislative elections.
For the election itself, on the 14th, the most recent polls point to a victory for the opposition, led precisely by Macri, although he is not running for any office at the moment.
Now, the judge must decide whether to take the case against the former president further.
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