After more than three and a half months of hearings, The oral trial for the former judge of Guarantees of La Plata César Ricardo Melazo and other people accused of forming an illegal association ended this Tuesday. In this process that began on September 5, nine criminal cases were discussed, including the homicide of Juan Farias occurred in 2010 in an alleged internal reckoning of the band. All the hearings were recorded and registered by the Supreme Court of Justice of the province of Buenos Aires.
Following their allegations, prosecutors Mariano Sibuet Y Victoria Huergo they had requested a sentence of 16 years in prison for Melazo as “boss” of the illicit association; the ex-police Gustavo Bursztyn is sentenced to life imprisonment as co-author of illicit association as “organizer”; robbery qualified for abuse of a weapon in a real contest with possession of a weapon of war and homicide criminis causa and possession of a firearm for conditional civilian use.
For Gustavo Mena, Adrián Manes, Carlos Barroso Luna, Héctor Vega and Martín Fernández They also requested life imprisonment as “co-members” of an illicit association, qualified robbery for abuse of a weapon, and criminis causa homicide.
For Carlos Bertonisix years for illicit association; Enrique Petrullofour years for influence peddling; Mark Chiusarolito one year and six months for possession of a firearm for civilian use.
This Tuesday the day of replicas of the allegations took place. Prosecutors, with a system that combined orality with multimedia, responded to the arguments of the defenses on issues that were not dealt with in the pleadings stage. The accusers pointed out that Melazo “used and enjoyed other people’s property, which justifies investigating the crimes of illicit enrichment and money laundering.” Regarding the request for prescription of the crime of “possession of weapons for civilian use” they understood that “due to the date of filing (of the case) and there being no grounds for suspension of the prescription, the defense proposal must be accepted.”
For the accusation “it is not minor for this party that the facts that make up the illicit association gave rise to three sentences of abbreviated trials, two of which are final”, for which reason they readjusted the request for a sentence of Melazo in “15 years of imprisonment, legal accessories and costs”.
One of the complaints repeated by the defenses of those accused of the crime and of illicit association is that it is not known what the eventual sentence to serve would be if they are only convicted for the second of the crimes. Given this statement, the prosecutors estimated for Gustavo Burzstyn a sentence of 13 years in prison for the crimes of possession of a war weapon for conditional civil use and illicit association as an organizer; for Gustavo Gregorio Mena nine years in prison as a member of an illegal association; Adrian Manes eight years in prison as a member of an illegal association and six years for Carlos Barroso Luna.
Then it was the turn of the defendants to express their last words before the judges retire to deliberate. The first was Melazo who maintained that “it was a long time of confinement, four years and four months, I collaborated with the raids, with the delivery of the telephones” to highlight that “what matters is this oral trial, I ask for memory, I ask for justice, I ask the Court for courage to resolve what happened here in the trial”. He also pointed out that he is unaware of the majority of the defendants, he only acknowledged functional acquaintance with Burzstyn. “They have chosen the test to sully the truth (…), I am not guilty of what I have been accused of, I am innocent.”
The rest said they were innocent of all charges. Some called for “justice” for the family of Juan Farías.
After the closing of the trial, the judges of the Oral Criminal Court II of La Plata ordered the release of Barroso Luna who was arrested during the debate because he did not return to one of the hearings. His arrest was ordered to guarantee his presence during the arguments stage. Prosecutors requested that the defendant’s address be certified since during the trial he gave two different addresses.
The reading of the verdict will be on March 6, 2023 and the grounds will be known on April 17.
All trial hearings were recorded. In addition, the trial could be followed via the web on the channel of the YouTube platform of the Supreme Court of Justice of the province of Buenos Aires.
