The Supreme Court of Justice declared the statute of limitations and resolved the dismissal of the former minister Sunday Cavallo in the case in which the bonuses paid during the Carlos Menem government.
“Eighteen years have passed since Domingo Cavallo was summoned to testify as a defendant without his position vis-à-vis the law and society having been determined, and without having put an end to the situation of uncertainty that criminal prosecution entails,” he said. the Court by declaring the case time-barred.
“In the absence of any other element that makes such a prolongation of the process for almost two decades reasonable, it greatly exceeds what is tolerable,” the highest court warned.
Cavallo had been sentenced in the case to three years and six months in prison and absolute perpetual disqualification for being a necessary participant in the crime of “embezzlement.”
Against that sentence, Cavallo’s defense filed an appeal that was rejected, and in the face of a new proposal from the former official referring to the violation of the right to be tried within a reasonable timethe case reached the Court.
Cavallo’s defense argued that “the 29 years that have passed since the events occurred, like the 14 years of processing, do not find any justification”.
The crime for which he was tried is related to the receipt of payment of protocol expenses with funds from secret law 18,302. The case became known publicly as the “bonuses.”
Right to be tried within a reasonable time
By admitting the extraordinary appeal, the Court recalled that it is the doctrine of the court “the guarantee of every accused of being tried within a reasonable time.”
It “is not only a corollary of the right to defense in court (art. 18 of the National Constitution – derived from the “speedy trial” of Amendment VI of the Constitution of the United States of America) but is also expressly provided for in international treaties with constitutional hierarchy as part of due legal process and the guarantee of access to justice (art. 8.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights and art. 14.3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, depending on the art. 75, inc. 22, of the National Constitution)”, indicated the Court.
“This Court has held that the prosecution of an unduly prolonged lawsuit would violate the right of defense of the accused” and recognizes “the right that every person has to free themselves from the state of suspicion that arises from the accusation of having committed a crime.”
The case
The case began in 2004. Its purpose was the investigation of the alleged systematic theft of public funds between 1989 and 1999 through the monthly allocation, and in parallel to the remuneration of the position, of sums of money to various officials of the highest hierarchy of the National Executive Branch.
These sums were in concept of protocol expenses, compensations and bonuseswhich came from budget items assigned to reserved funds whose use, in accordance with the legal norms that regulated them, was exclusively destined for activities related to the defense and security of the State.
On October 10, 2006, Cavallo’s investigation was ordered, which became effective in March 2007. After that, the lack of merit was ruled on September 10, 2007 and, after an extension of Cavallo’s investigative statement made on May 20, 2008, The judge arraigned him on May 29, 2009.
On May 21, 2014, the start of the debate was set for March 2, 2015. On December 1, 2015, the conviction of three defendants was handed down, including Cavallo.
“Taking into account its disproportionate extension, the absence of great complexity that justifies such a prolongation of the case and the clear collaboration of the accused in the criminal process by recognizing the materiality of the facts from the investigation stage, it is possible to conclude that the duration of the process for almost two decades, ostensibly violates the guarantees of a reasonable period of time for the process and the right of defense of the accused,” the Court concluded with the signature of the ministers Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz and Juan Carlos Maqueda.
In the same ruling, the Court declared “inoffitious” the ruling in relation to the deceased Carlos Menem, who had also been convicted in the case.
Source: Ambito
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