Criminal Cassation spoke Menem free because of the weapons, which caused political rejection – Télam

The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation issued the acquittal of the Senator and former President Carlos Menem in the case of the illegal sale of arms to Ecuador and Croatia, because the "reasonable time-principle" to reach a hard sentence had not been fulfilled, legal sources that have been confirmed today.

The decision provoked the immediate reaction of the deputy Elisa Carrió, who claimed that the verdict demonstrates the bloodless impunity that seriously injures the Republic & # 39; and expected that she would seek the political judgment of the judges who signed the acquittal.

On the contrary, the daughter of the former head of state, Zulema Menem, uploaded a tweet with a picture next to her father, in which she says: "Everything happens and this also happened, I love you, old man" repeats a sentence whose origin goes back to the Egyptian empire, popularized by the former president of the AFA, Julio Grondona.

According to the court of appeal – including the judges Liliana Catucci, Eduardo Riggi and Carlos Mahiques – the "reasonable time limit" was not met to reach a final judgment against the former president.

The file that started in 1995 lasts 23 years of judicial route, and for this reason Menem, aged 88, has a sentence for seven years in prison. The defense appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the sentence and ordered it to return to Cassatie.

Carrió, of the Civic Coalition and the main partner of the government in Cambiemos, voiced via social networks that "politics and justice have prevented a judgment in the short term". Today, the same policy and the same case-law prevent the execution of the sentence. They use guarantee arguments that are incompatible with what is regulated by Article 36 of the national constitution, involving Menem and the judges who have rescued them in the crime of notorious traitors of the homeland. & # 39;

"Now I understand my ban in the Bicameral Commission of Follow-up and Control of the Public Ministry of the Nation and the statements of (the Minister of Justice, Germán) Garavano," said Carrió.

Hours before the legislator had expressed her anger at a Garavano verdict, which had said that "it can usually never be good for a country that a former president is being held or his detention is requested", after being consulted about the trial against former President Cristina Fernández.

The case against Menem began in 1995, after three decrees he signed during his first term, to sell 6,500 kilos of weapons to Venezuela and Panama, but which were destined for Croatia and Ecuador who were at war and for which the UN had an embargo imposed.

Radical deputy Mario Negri argued that the verdict "compromises" the credibility of justice and warned that "it confirms an alarming precedent that the passing of time, through judicial authorities without having reached a final judgment, necessarily requires acquittal is ".

During the trial, Menem denied having had any responsibility in the illegal sale of the weapons and claimed that he was limited to "signing arms export decrees" to Venezuela and Panama and that the rest of the proceedings were not known to him.

In this context, his brother and former senator Eduardo Menem said today that "the verdict is the end of a long judicial prosecution, in the public pillory of a completely random process of 23 years".

In a dialogue with the National Radio he said: "Let's not forget that it starts with an accusation of ideological untruth and unauthorized association, there was always a political background."

In rejecting Carrio's criticism, Eduardo Menem said that "when what she wants is not offered, she attacks everything, the President of the Court, the ministers" and points out that "all that remains is that she feels persecuted if she is the one who gets out against all the powers of the republic. "

With regard to the case against his brother, he said that "there is a morbidity behind them that they want to see Carlos Menem imprisoned, they want to see him captured again".

The lawsuit started in 2008 and three years later Menem was acquitted, as were his Defense Minister, Oscar Camilión, and President Yokoem, among others.

In 2013, the Chamber of Cassation reversed the decision and Menem was sentenced to seven years in prison and 14 years inability to hold a public office.

Menem has another sentence that has not been signed for alleged payment of bonuses and two other lawsuits: one for the sale of the La Rural property and another for concealment in the AMIA case. In addition, another investigation is under way for alleged unauthorized enrichment, which also points to his ex-wife, the Chilean animator Cecilia Bolocco.