The Brazilian citizen Fernando Sabag Montiel, the main defendant in the failed attack against former Argentine president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015), admitted this Wednesday that he had wanted to kill her for – as he said during the investigative statement at the beginning of the oral trial – for being “a corrupt person.” ”.
Sabag Montiel, 37, admitted having pulled the trigger “once” in front of the former president’s face on the night of September 1, 2022, an event that caused a great political and social commotion, and mobilized large sectors of the country against hate speech and political violence.
“I base my act on the fact that I did it because she is a thief,” said Montiel, who added that her partner, Brenda Uliarte, accused as a co-author, and Nicolás Carrizo, accused as a co-author and necessary participant, incriminated themselves because they were supposedly “financed.”
Sabag Montiel made reference to the alleged hypothesis that the attempted assassination had been financed by third parties, although the Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 2, headed by prosecutor Carlos Alberto Rívolo, indicated that no alleged links in the crime with far-right movements could be proven. center-right of Argentina.
The defendant as the material author of the act reaffirmed that “(trying) to kill Cristina (Fernández)” was “an act of justice and not an act” in which he tried to benefit financially.
He also stated before the judges of the Federal Criminal Oral Court No. 6 of Buenos Aires that if his objective was achieved “there would be destabilization” and “a civil war.”
According to the tests carried out on the Bersa Thunder model pistol, which was used by Montiel, the .22 caliber projectile did not leave the chamber because the weapon was not cocked.
The defendant said he did not try again because he was intercepted by Fernández’s followers, referring to the group of supporters who for several days stood guard in front of his residence at that time to show his support. Fernández had just been accused of corruption during her term.
“I didn’t reload the gun again because I was intercepted. I had no moment of departure or escape from the plan. “I was thirty centimeters away from her,” he added.
Montiel’s statements are in line with some of the testimonies read during the hearing and that were collected in the investigation along with audiovisual material captured by the local press and several passersby, present on the day of the attack, and will be displayed every Wednesday until they have the 277 witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the judicial investigation, both Montiel, Uliarte and Carrizo sold cotton candy in the vicinity of Fernández’s department with the intention of becoming familiar with the place, its movements and the custody of the then vice president (2019-2023).
However, Sabag Montiel admitted having planned and organized the attack, and that Uliarte’s role was only as a “companion” and with Carrizo they only had a “working relationship.”
On the latter’s cell phone, conversations linked to the attack were found in which the accused talked about their ‘modus operandi’, which Montiel considered “fabricated”: “I never told Carrizo what I was going to do to preserve myself.” ”.
“I know that they received money to record the premeditation of two or three people. “They did counterintelligence to muddy the field,” she added. He also said that after being detained by the Police, his phone was destroyed and replaced with another one.
During the last questions in the hearing, one of the plaintiff lawyers, José Manuel Uberia, who represents Cristina Fernández, asked him if he felt regret, to which Montiel replied: “I would feel more sorry if it had happened, maybe.”
The trial will continue next Wednesday with the investigations of Uliarte and Carrizo with the first witnesses in the case.
