The former judge Cesar Melazo He must wait to enjoy the benefit of “assisted freedom” that this Friday two of the three members of the Oral Criminal Court II of La Plata decided to give him, who considered that the former judicial official who was sentenced to 7 years and 10 months in prison , as criminally responsible perpetrator of the crimes of “illicit association, illegal possession of a firearm for conditional civilian use and cover-up”, is in a position to be released. The wait is given because the decision was appealed by the prosecutor Mariano Sibuet and now it will have to resolve the Chamber of Appeals of La Plata.
The prosecutor’s position is focused on considering that the courses that Melazo took in prison and were taken into account by the judges to reduce the amount of the sentence by 45 days and, as a consequence, give him the benefit of assisted release, only serve to reduce the amount of the sentence of those who are already sentenced when they carry them out. In the case of the former judicial official, he did not have a sentence when he carried out these activities.
Already in her resolution in minority rejecting the release, the judge Silvia Hoerr It had stated that “the time for computing detention that is computed as imprisonment under the terms of Article 24 of the Penal Code should not be confused with a reduction of the sentence itself for educational encouragement.” “Note that the terminology used by the law is ‘penalty discount’, therefore, this cannot be done at this stage in which it is not firm and such is the case that hastily granting a benefit in that framework could lead to a Serious inconvenience if the Court of Cassation eventually accepts the Prosecutor’s appeal and increases the sentence or if, on the contrary, an appeal is made by the Defense and decreases it (obviously in case of acquittal, the proposal would become abstract) , and I say this for any case of non-firm conviction in order to demonstrate that this calculation requires the finality of the conviction,” added the magistrate.
But beyond this debate that the Chamber will now have to settle, there is also controversy over the benefit granted by taking courses. According to the two judges who ruled in favor of Melazo’s release, Santiago Paolini y Andres Vital, took into account the completion of courses “Introduction to Computer Science”, “Electrician Installer”, “Safety at Work”, “Basic Automotive Mechanics”, “Student Training in Gender and Approaches to Violence” and “Elementary Mathematics for future architects and designers”, among many others; but Judge Hoerr stressed that this type of activity carried out virtually and without much effort, in order to add hours, “is far from the spirit and desire to learn that the law pursues.”
SENTENCE
The sentence fell on the former judge of Guarantees on March 6, when he was found “co-author” of illicit association. The decision of the judges was by majority. Hoerr, president of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) II of La Plata, who now rejected the release, voted in a minority, then voted for a 15-year sentence as “boss” of the criminal enterprise, as requested by trial prosecutors Sibuet and Victoria Huergo. On that occasion, the amount with a lesser sentence was voted by the same judges who endorsed the assisted freedom.
In this case several files were aired. One of them was the crime of Juan Farias, an alleged ex-member of the band, but for that fact no one was convicted, all were acquitted. The rest of the convictions by majority as co-authors of the illicit association were for the ex-commissioner Gustavo Burzstyn (7 years and 10 months, the judge proposed 13 years), the ex-police Gustavo Mena (6 years in prison, the magistrate voted for 9 years), Adrian Manes (4 years and six months, the minority vote was 8 years), Carlos Bertoni (4 years in jail, the judge voted 6 years). Meanwhile, unanimously, they condemned and Enrique Petrullo to 4 years in prison for influence peddling.
With that sentence, both Melazo and Burzstyn were in a position to recover assisted freedom within 60 days, but the former judge’s defense (the lawyers Christian Romano and Juan Pesquera) will request that he be benefited with temporary releases beforehand. Now, just over 30 days later, the TOC II judges granted him the benefit.
According to the investigation carried out by the prosecutor Lacki’s female, the defendants were part of an illegal association that committed “thefts under the modality of escruche, car theft, its subsequent reduction; adulteration and sale, commercialization of narcotics, with the same modus operandi, with division and organization of tasks”. In addition, “some of them, in their capacity as police officers, secured the area, handed over the jobs and provided police cover” and Melazo presumably provided protection to the gang.
It is expected that the foundations of the sentence will be known on April 17 and there it will also be known if Melazo will be investigated for alleged illicit enrichment as requested by prosecutors in their plea.
