The trial of the “condom case” was rescheduled after the inhibition of a judge

15:40

The beginning of the oral and public trial of the “condom case”, which led to the dismissal of former judge Rodolfo Mingarini, was scheduled for this Wednesday. However, as a result of the inhibition of one of the judges that made up the court, it was suspended and would begin, in principle, next week.

The proposal of Judge Luis Octavio Silva, who had been drawn to form the court along with his colleagues Nicolás Falkenberg and Sergio Carraro, has not yet been resolved. The deadline for this expires on Friday the 24th, so the trial is expected to begin first thing on Monday, May 27.

Leandro Exequiel Spies was accused of the crime of “sexual abuse with carnal access” and is in preventive detention, which was extended in June 2023. The reported event occurred in 2021, in a home in the northern area of ​​the city of Santa Fe, and took on significance because the then judge Mingarini ordered his release and questioned how he could have subdued the woman while she was putting on a condom.

Although the trial court had already been drawn, upon notification by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPA) that prosecutor Alejandra Del Río Ayala would participate in the debate, Judge Silva decided to refrain from intervening in the debate, and requested his apartment.

In that writing, the magistrate cited previous resolutions where “I considered that said official engages in her devaluations in an attack on the judicial independence represented in my person.”

For this reason, he noted that he cannot ensure the “neutrality, equidistance and objectivity with which these cases must be addressed.” “The determining factor is the distrust in the impartiality of the judge” which “would lead to doubting his decision (whatever it may be),” Judge Silva highlighted.

After the inhibition, the Office of Judicial Management (OGJ) appointed Judge Lisandro Aguirre to join the court that must decide on Silva’s claim. If he accepts it, Aguirre would replace him at trial.

This was questioned by one of the defense lawyers, Julián Saín, who described the intervention of prosecutor Del Río Ayala as “inopportune, inadequate, whose purpose was to force Judge Silva’s departure.” Saín also criticized how Aguirre was appointed.

The MPA reported that the prosecutor’s participation in the trial was due to the fact that prosecutor Matías Broggi – who is leading the case – was involved in another debate. However, with the rescheduling, he will be the one to finally carry out the accusation against Spies.

Spies was charged in May 2021 by the then prosecutor Celeste Minniti, now a judge, who attributed him to having forcibly entered a house in the north of the city and having raped the woman who lived there.

Although the prosecution requested preventive detention, this was rejected by former judge Mingarini, who questioned how Spies could have subdued the woman while she was putting on a condom and ordered her release. A video with the cut of the magistrate’s resolution went viral, gaining national relevance.

A month later, Court of Appeals judge Fernando Gentile Bersano revoked Mingarini’s ruling, noted that there were elements to support the probable existence of the act and authorship of the accused, and ordered Spies’ preventive detention.

With the reversal of the ruling, Mingarini was denounced for poor performance of his duties. On September 7, 2021, the Prosecution Court suspended him from his position.

There were nine cases in which Mingarini’s resolutions were questioned, many of these regarding sexual abuse, in which the victims were boys and girls, and in which the gender perspective was not considered.

After the jury, he was dismissed. The decision was in the hands of the six ministers of the Supreme Court of Santa Fe (Rafael Gutiérrez, Roberto Falistocco, Eduardo Spuler, Mario Netri, Daniel Erbetta and María Angélica Gastaldi); the lawyers chosen by lottery Julio Pagano (Reconquista) and Héctor Ferrero (Rafaela); representing the provincial Senate Armando Traferri, and the Chamber of Deputies Maximiliano Pullaro.