A federal judge has been assigned to investigate claims by La Libertad Avanza (LLA) deputies that they were tricked into seeing dictatorship-era repressors in federal prison. Five deputies participated in the July 11 visit, the news of which broke a week later and sparked a widespread outcry.
Argentina’s latest military dictatorship tortured, murdered, and hid the bodies of 30,000 people between 1976 and 1983. The deputies met with Alfredo Astiz (known as the “Angel of Death”), Adolfo Donda (complicit in the murder of his brother and appropriation of his newborn niece), and other inmates convicted of crimes against humanity within that apparatus of state terror. A photograph of the get-together went viral on Tuesday showing LLA Deputies Beltrán Benedit — who claimed responsibility for organizing the meeting — Lourdes Arrieta, Guillermo Montenegro, María Fernanda Araujo, and Alida Ferreyra Ugalde.
Last week, human rights lawyer Pablo Llonto — who is a plaintiff in several dictatorship cases — filed a complaint at the Federal Oral Court 5° in Buenos Aires, where some of the inmates continue to be investigated in the ex-ESMA case. Federal Judge Ernesto Kreplak was assigned to the case on Monday after it was transferred to a federal court in Lomas de Zamora, Buenos Aires province, which has jurisdiction.
When news broke of the controversial visit, LLA Deputy Rocío Bonacci was implicated as an attendee but has consistently claimed she was lied to regarding who they would see and what they were going to do. Benedit allegedly told her that they were going to see “veterans of the Malvinas war” who were “unfairly convicted.” When she found out the true nature of the visit en route to Ezeiza, Bonacci allegedly chose not to participate.
Days later, LLA Deputy Lourdes Arrieta also alleged that she went unwittingly and didn’t know who the repressors were. She said Beltrán told her it was a “humanitarian visit” to see the conditions the inmates were in, and that she left early with Bonacci. But while Bonacci is absent from the photo, Arrieta is in the center wearing an orange coat.
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The criminal complaint Llonto filed is based on Bonacci and Arrieta’s statements, saying a felony might have been committed if the deputies were tricked or if authorization documents included false or manipulated information.
“The judge has to find out what happened during that visit, who organized it, and how the paperwork to enter the prison was filled in,” Llonto told the Herald. “When you want to enter a prison, you have to fill out a form — a public document — in which you state you want to visit an inmate. If another person filled out the form for you, or you said you were visiting someone and ended up visiting someone else, there might be a felony.”
According to Llonto, if Arrieta and Bonacci were tricked, “someone else filled out the request to enter without stating who they were going to visit,” which would entail a violation of consent. The same could potentially apply to the repressors’ consent to receive visitors, he added, because they were allegedly not informed of who they were going to be meeting.
“Arrieta says she didn’t know who those people were, but then she took a picture with them,” Llonto said. “Was she tricked about their identities? She has to explain.”
Political outcry
Deputies were expected to formally address the issue during a session on Wednesday at noon, but it fell through because there was no quorum.
Peronist deputies had filed a bill demanding the lawmakers’ expulsion from the Lower House. Arrieta also filed a proposal to create a commission that would investigate her and her colleagues’ misconduct, which could also lead to their expulsion. LLA reportedly met with the so-called “friendly opposition” on Tuesday and agreed to condemn the deputies during the session without calling for them to be expelled.
While the deputies present tried to agree on a joint stance to condemn the visit, Lower House President Martín Menem called off the session as deputies from Hacemos Coalición Federal and other blocs were not in their seats. The session had originally been scheduled two months ago and deputies were set to discuss a bill on gun ownership, but the controversial prison visit changed the focus.
“We believe it’s key that we discuss issues related to Argentines’ real interests,” said Hacemos Coalición Federal in a communiqué after the session was called off. Many deputies from that bloc have voted for LLA’s proposals in recent months. “We won’t comply with discussing the agenda of the two ends of the political spectrum.”
Unión por la Patria Deputy Cecilia Moreau said “there have been many meetings” between LLA members and repressors. “Many of you were there. In those meetings, and in WhatsApp group chats, you discuss how to reduce the sentences of the repressors,” she said.