Judge indicts four members of Federal Revolution
Four members of the farright group known as Revolución Federal have been indicted on allegations they incited violence and hate.
The group’s public leader Jonathan Morel was charged on Thursday by Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi. for inciting violence and hate. Three others – Leonardo Franco Sosa, Gastón Ezequiel Ángel Guerra, and Sabrina Basile – will also face the same charges.
Morel and his affiliates first drew attention after erecting a guillotine in the Plaza de Mayo in what they maintain was a legitimate act of artistic and political expression.
But according to Thursday’s decision, the controversial activists were guilty of demonstrating with “the purpose of imposing their ideas and combating those of others, instilling fear in the population and forcing national public authorities to refrain from going out into the streets in safe conditions, to cancel press conferences for fear of future harm, or appearing in public with their supporters.”
The move comes just two days after the quartet was ordered to be released by judges from a federal chamber in Buenos Aires, a decision that prompted outrage from Frente de Todos leader Alberto Fernández. On Wednesday afternoon, the president took to Twitter to criticise the decision, accusing the presiding judges of political bias and calling for the Supreme Court to intervene.
“It seems that far from wanting to clarify the fact and reach those most responsible, they are determined to cover up the obvious: that a criminal gang with ramifications and dark financing attempted against the life of the vice-president of the nation,” alleged Fernández in a post to his 2.2 million followers on the social media site.
Revolución Federal has become a magnet of criticism for politicians from the Frente de Todos ruling calition — especially in the wake of the assassination attempt on Vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Though direct links are unclear, prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita argued what many government sympathisers believe: that the group’s actions “led to the establishment of a state of social alarm.”