A judge declined on Friday to send Elián Ángel Valenzuela — better known as the cumbia singer L-Gante — back into pre-trial detention. He is accused of forcing his neighbor into a car at gunpoint, among other crimes, after an argument at a night club.

Judge Gabriel Castro’s decision came despite an appeals court resolution overturning the decision to release him from detention and a request from one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers that he be arrested, judicial sources said. 

The singer was first arrested in June, charged with kidnapping and threatening his neighbor, Darío Torres; kidnapping Torres’ mother, Rosa Passi; drug possession; and being in possession of stolen property.

After over three months in pre-trial detention at the Departmental Investigations Delegation in Quilmes, he was released on September 9.

Judge Castro delivered his decision at noon after Leonardo Sigal and Pablo Becerra, the attorneys representing Torres, issued their request. Castro announced that he had been notified of the superior court’s resolution, but would not act until the decision was definitive.

L-Gante’s attorney, Diego Storto, said the judge’s decision meant the singer cannot be taken into custody again until the Cassation Tribunal has ruled on the issue.

Separately, Judge Castro said that the request of Torres’ lawyers for the singer’s arrest would not be heeded and that the previous decision “must be complied with.”

During their presentation before the judge, Sigal and Becerra also affirmed that they would “adhere in all respects” to the request for trial earlier this month from the prosecutor in the case, Raul Villalba.

The charges against L-Gante

On May 27, Torres, a neighbor of L-Gante’s family in the town of General Rodríguez, Buenos Aires province, reported to the police that he had argued in a nightclub with a group of the singer’s friends known as “the Mafily” (la Mafilia — the wordplay works in both languages). He alleged that after the quarrel, members of the Mafily went to his house and assaulted him and his family.

Members of the Urban Guard arrived at the scene to break up the fight and identify the aggressors. When they left, L-Gante allegedly threatened Torres with a firearm, forced him into a car, and told him he should not speak against the “Mafily.”

After some “Mafily” members were later arrested, L-Gante returned to the city officials’ car and said to the agents: “Release my friends or I’ll kill this one,” referencing the person in his car.

Torres was allegedly held captive for 23 minutes, and was only released after L-Gante received a phone call informing him that his friends had been freed.

In September, Castro ordered the singer’s release following a request from his lawyer based on new testimonies, which he said “offer a completely different version of events than what was known at the time pre-trial detention was determined.”

– with information from Télam