(Periodistas/IFEX) – On Monday 15 November 1999, a preliminary hearing was held in the Dolores Appeals Court, in connection with the oral and public examination of the assassination of news photographer José Luis Cabezas. The parties involved in the case had an opportunity to request that last minute expert opinions, testimonies and evidence that they […]
(Periodistas/IFEX) – On Monday 15 November 1999, a preliminary hearing was held in the Dolores Appeals Court, in connection with the oral and public examination of the assassination of news photographer José Luis Cabezas. The parties involved in the case had an opportunity to request that last minute expert opinions, testimonies and evidence that they deem necessary be submitted before the oral examination can commence. The trial is currently expected to begin in the last two weeks of December.
During the hearing, and at the request of the defendants, Appellate Judges Raúl Begué, Jorge Dupuy and Susana Yaltone ordered that a reconstruction of the crime be held on Monday 22 November at 8:30 p.m. (local time). The defence lawyers further requested that a number of procedures be included and for permission to call hundreds of witnesses to testify. Nevertheless, the judges maintained a firm stance in refusing to admit procedures that could further delay the beginning of the oral trial and decided to reduce the number of witnesses to approximately 300 persons. The judges further rejected the proposal that the following matters be considered during the trial: the role of the Buenos Aires police officers who investigated the crime, the actions of lower court Judge José Luis Macchi and related information on businessman Alfredo Yabrán’s bank accounts.
The “Página/12” newspaper noted that the defence lawyers’ strategy is apparently to delay the beginning of the trial so that a sentence will not be pronounced before April 2000. If this happens, the accused would be allowed to go free because by then they will have been kept prisoners for three years without having been sentenced. The court is operating on the assumption that the oral stage of the trial will begin in the middle of December and last two months. The hearings will be held between Monday and Saturday in a small chamber of the Dolores court, and the court has already authorised televised broadcasts of the hearings.
