On the afternoon of last Friday, the former judge Cesar Melazo He was released from prison and began his regime of “assisted release” in his luxurious home located in Gorina. This was the case because what was resolved by two of the three members of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) II, who took into account a series of courses that the convicted person had completed and -according to his criteria- they were enough to reduce his sentence and as a consequence decide the benefit.
Those close to the official and judicial sources confirmed to 0221.com.ar that Melazo returned to his luxurious home located northwest of the La Plata urban area. There he began to enjoy his first hours in freedom despite the fact that the prosecution of the trial appealed the decision of the members of the court.
It is the same house in which the former judge who was sentenced on March 6 as the perpetrator criminally responsible for the crimes of “illicit association, illegal possession of a firearm for conditional civil use and cover-up” was arrested on August 24, 20184 and eight months ago.
On that occasion, when the former official was arrested, the members of the Homicide Division of the Argentine Federal Police who went to look for him found 14 firearms. AND 0221.com.ar informed through images of its drone the impressive dimension of the land that in which is the house to which he has now returned. The house has large spaces and luxuries and space to house the number of vehicles it had at that time.
As already reported, the release of Melazo is controversial due to the arguments used by the judges James Paolini and Andrew Vitali to justify it, in opposition to the president of the Criminal Oral Court II Silvia Hoerrwho voted against.
In fact, an appeal by the prosecutor weighs on that decision Mariano Sibuet which does not have suspensive effect but which must be analyzed by the Court of Appeals. In the event of a decision that supports the proposal, the former judge must return to prison.
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.”
