The former judge César Melazo declared and confronted a former police chief of La Plata

The statement of the former judge of Guarantees of La Plata Cesar Ricardo Melazo and his confrontation with the former police chief of La Plata, commissioner Juan Domingo Ibarrawere two of the salient notes of the fifth hearing of the oral trial in which the alleged “The gang of judges” is judged, a group of thieves who, it is suspected, operated with the participation of at least three former judges of the city.

Through a confrontation requested by the defense of the former guarantor magistrate and with a former head of the La Plata Departmental Investigation Delegation (DDI) sitting in the courtroom, Inquired about two facts in particular that have to do, on the one hand, with the delivery of weapons that Melazo would have carried out and, on the other, about the intervention of the former judge in the robbery of the Secretary of Human Rights occurred on December 30, 2009. According to the record, the assailants took money and a significant amount of electronic equipment.

After the coup, Melazo (who was a judge at the time but was not on duty at the time of the assault) went to the house of Juan Roberto Farias (a former member of the gang presumably murdered in an internal settling of scores) to manage the recovery of part of the elements stolen from the public distribution.

Regarding the issue of weapons, the defendant maintained that he gave “a shotgun” to the former head of the DDI, while the police officer assured that, in reality, he gave him “four weapons without papers to see if they had a request for kidnapping and if they worked”, explained judicial sources to 0221.com.ar.

Another witness also spoke about the robbery of the businessman and soccer coach Robert Zapata (former aide-de-camp to Nestor Craviotto en Estudiantes) at his home on 13 between 70 and 71, in 2010, to which the gang leaders ordered “not to play”. The robbery happened when the businessman and his family were celebrating a birthday in a room in the center of La Plata, among whose guests was Melazo himself. The criminals entered by making a hole in the roof of the house and forced a safe. The witness confirmed that “custody had been ordered at the businessman’s house, but just the custody at a certain moment left and that is why the assault could be committed”, which, it is estimated, was millionaire and in dollars.

For his part, a third witness assured that Melazo and former chief commissioner Gustavo Bursztyn “were friends.” He also provided a piece of information that may be key: the former judge was nicknamed “el Flaco” as it emerged in the wiretaps.

In the list of accused, along with Melazo, Bursztyn (until his capture he served in the Patrol Command) and the officer Gustavo Andres Gregorio Mena (already laid off for another reason); Adrian “Quichua” Manes (arrested for homicide); Charles Bertoni (brother of world champion soccer player); Carlos “Macha” Barroso Luna; Hector “Pepe” Vega, Martin Ezequiel “Gaucho” Fernandez Y Enrique Edgardo “Quique” Petrullo.

According to the criminal investigation, the defendants “took part of an illicit association” intended to commit “robbery in the form of escruche, car theft, its subsequent reduction; adulteration and sale, marketing of narcotics, with the same modus operandi , with division and organization of tasks” and “some of them, in their capacity as police officers, secured the area, delivered the jobs and provided police cover”. The rest, according to the prosecutor, “formed work groups or couples who carried out the illegal acts.”

The case was raised for oral and public debate and was filed in the TOC II of La Plata, integrated for these files by Silvia Hörr, Santiago Paulini Y Andres Vitali. The official accusation is from the prosecutors Victoria Huergo Y Mariano Sibet. Next to them will be the lawyers Damian Barbossa Y Sebastian Bouvet on behalf of the family of Farías, a victim of homicide, it is suspected, by the members of the gang, that they would have judicial protection. The defenses, meanwhile, are in the hands of the lawyers Bruno Strassera, christian roman, John Fisher, Marcelo Pena, Adrian Mazzocchini Y Laura Corporal together with the official defenders Victoria Palomino Y Ana Julia Cove.