An unusual police report occurred this Tuesday on the case of José Luis Cabezas, the photographer murdered in Pinamar and whose main responsibility is the deceased businessman Alfredo Yabrán.
José Luis Auge, one of the four convicted of murdering the photographer in 1997. He was arrested this Tuesday in Berisso, but released hours later because the arrest warrant had expired.
After learning of the arrest, the family of the Noticias magazine photographer, through his sister Gladys Cabezas, issued a statement in which they considered “memory essential so that the figure of José Luis Cabezas is always the symbol of the role of journalism.” , and points out that this type of situation marks new “milestones of impunity for the soul and heart” and “a desire to obtain justice.”
Police sources assured that Auge (57) was detained by personnel from the Patrol Command during a vehicle control that was carried out on streets 66 and 123, in Berisso.
The troops intercepted the Ford Tránsit car in which Auge was driving and, after checking his data through the police arrest system, two requests for allegedly active arrests appeared, both incidents issued by the Criminal and Correctional Appeals and Guarantees Chamber of Dolores, dated December 2007, in the framework of the case for the murder of José Luis Cabezas.
The man, who said he currently works as a baker, was transferred to the Villa Progreso Detachment and was housed in a cell, while the police authorities contacted Dolores’ camera to report whether the arrest warrants were still in force.
Hours later, one of the chamber’s judges confirmed to the police that the arrest warrants had been “extinguished”, and therefore his immediate release was ordered.
Auge, like his accomplices Sergio González, Horacio Braga and Héctor Retana (now deceased) were sentenced in February 2000 by the Chamber of Dolores to life imprisonment, in a debate in which, in addition, police officer Gustavo Prellezo received life imprisonment , officer Aníbal Luna, officer Sergio Camaratta, and the then custodian of businessman Alfredo Yabrán, Gregorio Ríos.
In November 2003, the Buenos Aires Court of Cassation significantly reduced the sentences imposed and, thanks to the “2×1” law then in force, “Los Horneros”, with the exception of Retana who died in jail, were benefited from prison terms. In 2007, both Braga and Auge had violated the conditions of house arrest and by order of the Justice they had returned to prison, but some time later they were released again.
“Almost 26 years after the brutal and treacherous murder of José Luis, the family considers memory essential so that his figure will always be the symbol of the role of journalism. It does not matter why this murderer was arrested, who protected him so that he is a fugitive of Justice and who benefited him so that he is undeservedly freed like so many others in Argentina,” says the statement from the photojournalist’s family.
In addition, he adds that “good Argentines, who do not forget either, have found in the conviction of this aberrational act a sign of hope, in which the fight for truth and justice must set limits to power.”
“As expressed by his co-workers: ‘the unanimous and persistent repudiation of the crime from all sectors of Argentine civil life, the relentless demand for justice until those responsible are found, and then the extended demand for the sentences to be effectively served they reveal an awareness and a social consensus that 25 years later are a differential asset that should not be minimized…'”.
