Argentina Judge summons ex-president Mauricio Macri to testify in espionage case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “It is clear that these illegal deeds were not perpetrated by rank and file agents who on their own initiative engaged in espionage but instead stemmed from a national political interest that ultimately responded to the then Argentine president, Mauricio Macri,” said Deputy Federal Judge Martín Bava.

In addition, the Judge also indicted Gustavo Arribas, ex-head of Intelligence in Macri’s government, and his former second-in-command Silvia Majdalani, without preventive detention. The decision establishes 20 million pesos (US$202,000) in seizures ordered against them.

This is the first summons in which Macri will appear as a defendant since he left the Argentine Presidency. The espionage case of relatives of the missing sailors in the submarine was opened a year ago after a complaint from one of the Argentine intelligence officials.

Following the complaint, investigations show that reports and photographs were found indicating that the relatives of the crew members were being followed without judicial authorization or justification.

In this respect, Bava stated in the decision that espionage was conducted “with the aim of forewarning the highest authority of the State at that time, what the claims of the group of relatives would be, who were the protagonists of one of the most important national issues at that time.”

Therefore, the “seriousness of the facts herein exposed represents not only a violation of the democratic process, but also breaches the international commitments assumed by the Argentine State, by interfering in the private life and intimacy of these women and of families experiencing one of the greatest shocks of their lives, such as the disappearance of a loved one,” the judge finalized.

The last communication with the ARA San Juan was during the morning of Wednesday, November 15, 2017, while sailing in the Gulf of San Jorge heading to Mar del Plata with 44 people on board, when the vessel reported that it would dive to allow the crew to rest after the effort of navigating on surface during a storm. The submarine was found one year later, on November 11.