According to Fagúndez, Berriel provided information to Asthesian because he requested it by invoking the president Luis Lacalle Pou. “In this country there have been orders in totally illegal vertical commands, such as killing a person in captivity in the dictatorship, these orders are illegal. Here it is not about that kind of seriousness, here it is about orders from the head of the president’s custody which in turn were requested from this person on behalf of the president,” he explained in the dialogue with Sarandí.
According to the criminal lawyer, Berriel would not have committed a crime, since he was responding to requests from the highest authority in the country, the President of the Republic. Faced with the eventuality that the president had not made any request, Fagúndez stated that Astesiano made the requests under these characteristics, so his client would have been “led into a hoax”.
Given the claims that Astesiano was a “mythomaniac” and that he “took on powers that did not correspond to him”, Fagundez replied that his client “cannot know” but he did know that Astesiano was the president’s security chief and “has the obligation to provide and deliver the information” that he requested. The lawyer did not rule out the possibility of requesting the statement of President Luis Lacalle Pou if necessary. “If it is a necessary input, it is a statement that can be by report or can even be in person,” he said.
“Within the display of things to do it is a point, but if it is necessary. Whether it is the president or any person, as a lawyer, sometimes there are doubts and he asks for someone’s statement and it is useless. If you ask for someone’s statement, it is to produce something on the subject. I have two days on this, I have to see it and, if I have to see it, I say that I do not rule out anything, “Fagúndez summed up.
Changes in the police leadership
Last week, Luis Lacalle Pou relieved the new dome of the National Police. The president’s decision was made after a process of analysis that the Presidency and the Ministry of the Interior maintained for weeks, and was supported by the “natural wear and tear” of the management of the director of the Police, Diego Fernández —who would also have communicated his intention to step aside—; to which was added the direct impact of the conversations that the former head of presidential security, Alejandro Astesiano, held with the deputy executive director of the force, Jorge Berriel, among other police leaders.
The replacements are ready: the new Police command will be made up of the current Chief of Police of Florida, Jose Manuel Azambuya —who was also director of the Scientific police—; by the current head of Cologne, Johnny Diego, in the police subdirectorate; and by the still national director of the Police Education, Ephraim Abreuwho will be “number 3” to replace Berriel.
Source: Ambito
