The Polo Obrero requested the absolute nullity of the raid that the federal justice carried out this Monday at the headquarters of its civil association -at 700 Monteagudo Street in the city of Buenos Aires- because he considered that it was done in violation of what the National Criminal Procedure Code establishes on the registration of real estate. This is the first presentation that the entity makes in the case after the charges against 27 people and the raids on 28 homes.
Judicial sources informed Infobae that the proposal was made late last night by Elizabeth Palmapresident of the Polo Obrero Civil Association and one of the defendants in the case, along with the lawyers Liliana Alaniz and Claudia Ferrerobefore the federal judge Sebastian Casanello.
They requested that the raid be declared null and void and therefore that everything that was seized at the scene could not be used as evidence. The lawyers, in a 10-page document accessed by this media, pointed out that article 226 of the Penal Code establishes that in the case of “public buildings and administrative offices, meeting or recreational establishments, the premises of associations and any other closed place that is not intended for a private habitation or residence”, prior to the search “notification must be given to the people in charge of the premises, unless this would be detrimental to the investigation.”
“In the questioned raid, this order was not complied with. And this is because at the time of the incident there was no one in that place. The address of the headquarters of the Polo Obrero Civil Association is contained in this provision and poses an exception to the general principle of searches, making it clear that it is not a place intended for private habitation or residence. That the property of the headquarters of the Civil Association is reported and presented in the book of minutes and the public organizations that require it,” the lawyers maintained.
The lawyers also pointed out that “There was no urgency that would allow us to deviate from the article in question, but if so, the degree of urgency that the measure should have had to be evaluated.” “The authorities and members of the Association are people with impeccable track records and are also public figures, which is why any requirement regarding their activity did not require the secrecy of the night or the absence of the association’s authorities to verify the due diligence of the Association. judicial order,” they added.
El Polo also pointed out that the search warrant refers to the fact that it is a civil association but does not cite article 226. In the request for annulment, the association also denounced what its main representative had said publicly, Eduardo Belliboniwho is not charged in the case: that the Federal Police officers who carried out the procedure turned off the place’s security cameras.
“At the corporate headquarters, there is a security system with cameras that was disconnected by police personnel. Remember VS that no person was on site, but the monitoring of the headquarters could be observed through the app. If VS (NdA: the judge) could observe these images, he would see that there was no witness who could explain what happened. We establish that the shutdown of the surveillance cameras, with cable cuts, although it can be seen by the app in question, could not be accompanied in this letter to VS due to the fact that the DVR was kidnapped by the PFA,” stated the Polo Obrero.
On Monday, 28 procedures were carried out at homes, headquarters of social organizations and soup kitchens. Polo Obrero, Barrios de Pie and Front of Organizations in Struggle (FOL)the three organizations that are being investigated.
The case is investigating whether social leaders and activists extorted beneficiaries of social plans. Specifically, if they were asked for money in exchange for these plans, if they had to attend marches so as not to be “punished” with the removal of that right and bags of food that the national government sent. Some of the victims removed WhatsApp conversations where these accusations were recorded.
After the raids, the justice system analyzed all the seized documentation, especially a notebook in which handwritten inscriptions were found with lists of presences at demonstrations and delivery of merchandise to canteens. The judge also ordered all the information they contain to be extracted from the seized cell phones.
