MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Police did not tamper with suspect's phone, Aníbal Fernández says

Judge Capuchetti and the prosecution have done a good job, Fernández said

Argentina's Security Minister Aníbal Fernández Monday argued that the Federal Police did not tamper with the mobile phone belonging to the Brazilian national arrested in connection with the assassination attempt against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The minister also explained he had offered President Alberto Fernández to resign “because these things must be done that way,” but he was confirmed to remain on the job by the head of state. Social leaders such as Madres de Plaza e Mayo's Hebe de Bonafini had requested Minister Fernández's head.

“Protocols were correctly complied with” by the Federal Police during the operation to guard the Vice-President, insisted the Minister.

Asked about the fact that the assailant had come within inches of the former president, he said: “that is very difficult to solve in an open situation as we were”. He emphasized that in a matter of seconds the aggressor was detained by the Federal Police and that minutes later it was possible to determine that there was a weapon.

“I am not justifying [anything]. Far from it! What has happened is a horrifying fact that we are treating with great care and professionalism,” Fernández stressed.

Regarding the mobile telephone being restored to default values, Fernández argued that the Federal Police did not tamper with it. “What they did was to pick it up, put it in a Faraday bag -they create an electromagnetic field so that it cannot be accessed remotely- and send it to the Court”. He added that the Judiciary had issued a receipt saying that Fernando André Sabag Montiel's phone had been received with the chain of custody intact. Fernández also said that Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti and the prosecution “have done a good job.”

“The Faraday box is when we want to talk and the signal does not come out because it bounces everywhere,” explained Fernández at the Ministry's doorstep.