“No thank you very much”were the only words he emitted Mariano Bruera within the framework of the two months of oral trial that had him as the main defendant in the case in which possible bribes are being investigated within the framework of the Procrear Plan. He expressed them when the judges gave him the opportunity to say something before the verdict.
This Friday the last of the trial hearings took place in which together with the brother of the former mayor of La Plata Pablo Bruera the former officials were tried Enrique Sette, Gustavo Petro and the businessman Gustavo Orlandi.
The day began with the vehement plea of the lawyer John The NardSette’s defense attorney, who attacked each of the prosecution evidence, made a detailed analysis of the case, cited doctrine and jurisprudence to maintain that the accusation is “vague” and “confused”. “The accusation does not respect the rules of logic, there was a selective filter of the credibility of the evidence, the accusation is a fallacy in every sense of the word,” considered the intense defender.
For that part there was “an accusation directed because of the function that my assistant fulfilled”, who was secretary of Public Management of the municipality of La Plata. The land rezoning decrees signed by the former mayor Pablo Bruera They were countersigned with his signature.
“You cannot condemn a person by conjecture, illicit association is unsustainablethere are no logical bases in the accusation, it is nonsense, I have never seen anything like it ”, shot the defender with a tone of voice and body posture that denoted a mixture of anger and astonishment.
At the end of his plea, he requested acquittal as the main claim. In a subsidiary manner “and with great pain” he requested the acquittal for the benefit of the doubt. In relation to the penalty requested by the prosecutor Victoria Huergo (8 years in prison plus immediate detention) stated that “violates the principles of proportionality and reasonableness of the sentence”. Sette is accused of conspiracy, illegal exactions and passive bribery, all in real competition. But for the lawyer, in case the judges understand that the defendant is guilty, he reflected that the crimes compete in an “ideal” way and requested that the minimum of the criminal scale be applied and that the arrest request be rejected for lack of argumentation.
“I WANT TO GO WITH HIM”
facundo y Fabian Amendola are the defenders of the architect Gustavo Petro, former director of Planning and Private Works of the municipality of La Plata. According to the accusation, he was the recruiter of the gang that brought land owners to rezoning, from whom they later asked for bribes.
The first to argue was Facundo Améndola, who recalled that the rezoning procedures did not go through the Office of Planning and Private Works, which was in charge of the defendant.
In relation to the two wiretaps in which Petropó spoke with the convicted Robert Morenopointed out that the architect “consulted about the feasibility of urbanizing the lot” and that of these audios “there is never a request for money.”
“Moreno never returned Petro’s calls” alleged the lawyer and argued that it is very rare that the alleged recruiter of landowners to rezoning does not answer the phone or return his calls.
In his turn, Fabián Améndola shot that “it bothers him a lot to talk about what the investigation of this case was”, in a clear message to the prosecutor Jorge Paolini. The investigation “it was a sinister performance” given that “They chose who to investigate and who not, they chose to investigate the parsley gang”he delivered before an audience room that was attentively following his words in silence.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office left aside to (Jorge) Campanaro, (Ricardo) Riddick, (Lorenzo Jorge) Tomasi and to all individuals”, he complained to later recall that “there are no signatures from Petro in the files”.
He also referred to the testimony of Julia Martinez who was the judicial investigator of the case. “She dumped the responsibility on the prosecutor Paolini, brought a neighborhood fight between the prosecutor and the judge of Guarantees,” said the defender. In her account, the instructor said that they did not request more wiretaps from possible suspects (Jorge Campanaro, Pablo Bruera, Lorenzo Tomasi, Ricardo Riddick) because they believed that the magistrate was not going to grant them.
“Petro’s two wiretaps are innocuous to prove criminal participation, this man (in a loud voice, pointing to his assistant and both with tears in their eyes) had their life ruined he was in prison for almost three years, he lost his job, he has no home, he almost lost his family”, expressed Améndola in an intense way.
Regarding the request for a sentence of four years in prison, he did not hesitate to maintain: “If Petro goes to jail, ask for a cell for two, I want to go with him” to then require free acquittal. “If you don’t acquit him, I’ll go to jail with Petro”He closed his plea.
REQUEST FOR NEW INVESTIGATION
The trial prosecutor requested the opening of a new criminal investigation involving the former mayor Pablo Brueraother former municipal officials and also individuals for the alleged payment of bribes requested from landowners who sought to rezon their subdivisions with the aim of turning them over to the real estate market.
In her request, the representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated that the measure must also reach the former Secretary of Public Management Jorge Campanaroto former employees Ricardo Ridick, Lorenzo Jorge Tomasi and individuals identified as “Bocha” Chestnut y Dario Ballester. The names of these citizens appear on the explosive Excel spreadsheet (which, according to the prosecution, accredits the request for bribes) seized in the framework of the investigation that reached an oral trial
LAST WORDS
Enrique Sette was called to silence just like Mariano Bruera. But Gustavo Orlandi and his namesake Petró did exercise their right. The first pointed out: “I would have loved to have my phone tapped and this ended here, what’s more, I make it available now so that they can look for what they want.” In relation to the trial, he revealed to the judges that “I feel that they sought the truth, it was a balm” and “if the doctor (Huergo) was wrong, may God forgive her.”
In turn, an emotional Petro thanked the presence of his children for having listened to the plea of their lawyers “after 10 years of lies” and thanked the jury.
The reading of the verdict will be on Wednesday, May 31 at noon as ordered by the Oral Criminal Court II of La Plata presided over by the judge Silvia Hoerr with the vowels of Claudio Bernard y Hernán Decastelli.
