MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: rebel leaders not to be released for now, judge says

The judge believes they could hinder the investigation and intimidate victims and witnesses

Argentine Judiciary authorities explained that the members of the Revolución Federal (RF) rebel group arrested last week (Jonathan Morel, Sabrina Basile Gastón Guerra, and Leonardo Sosa) will not be freed for now because they could hinder the investigation and “intimidate” victims and witnesses.

Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi said that in the case of Basile, daughter of former national football team coach Alfio Coco Basile, “the material collected throughout the investigation reveals the woman's lack of respect for the rules,” which “leads to presume that, in case of recovering her freedom, she could even collaborate in operations dedicated to intimidating victims and witnesses.”

”All this becomes plausible if one considers the fear generated in the first place by the public activity developed and which was the object of the group (Revolución Federal) since its formation and in particular, that the study of cell phones and notebooks seized in the case, could yield information about third parties still unknown, who could receive some kind of pressure from those who are now detained,“ the magistrate added.

Releasing Basile at this moment ”could also hinder the rest of the proceedings requested by the prosecutor, which could be related to the facts investigated” in the case of the murder attempt against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Martínez de Giorgi has somehow linked the case under investigation in his court to the one handled by Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti, which is also substantiated by data supplied by the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI).

Kirchnerism maintains that there are links between those behind the Oct. 1 attempt and PRO's right wing. Some indirect connections have been established.