Court rejects gov’t request to drop ‘forced disappearance’ charges

The judge investigating the death of Santiago Maldonado has rejected the government’s request that the cour t drop charges of “forced disappearance followed by death” against officers of the country’s Gendarmerie (Border Guard).

Judge Gustavo Lleral denied the request because “it would suppose, without any doubt, a premature opinion by this magistrate on the hypothesis of the investigation”.

“It is legally impossible for me to conclude on the judicial qualification which the lawyer (Fernando Soto, representing the national government) alludes to”, he said, in a statement published by Adriana Meyer in Página 12. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich last week suggested the case had been “clarified”. “The objective of the law is that a victim has the right to a legal process and should be in conditions to approach it with lawyers, with the help of the State. Before it was different: the accused enjoyed the legal defence offered by the State and not the victim”, she said, referring to claims the Maldonado family was receiving state subsidies to cover their legal costs.

“Perhaps in this case, given that the issue has been clarified, we might reconsider the situation”, the Security Minister added.

The government’s legal team has tried on two fronts to end the investigation into the Gendarmerie, having already successfully pushed for the closure of the habeas corpus case in Judge Guido Otranto’s federal court in Esquel.