The Frente de Todos deepens its attack against Justice after the new absence of the federal prosecutor, Carlos Stornelli, to the impeachment commission in Deputies. Stornelli once again hit the foul on the committee of Deputies that is debating in a day of high tension between the ruling party and the opposition. The president of the Commission, the official Carolina Gaillard, said that she will notify the interim Attorney General, Eduardo Casal, “of the failure to appear and will request that the corresponding disciplinary sanctions be initiated.”
Stornelli advanced prior to the session his position of not appearing to testify as a witness, after his absence from the debate on Tuesday. He sent a letter to the Attorney General of the Nation, in charge of Eduardo Casal, on an interim basis, which awaits the sending of the questions that will be asked, which will not materialize. He mentioned the Criminal Procedure Code and the Public Prosecutor’s Office Law, which exempt prosecutors from appearing when summoned to testify as witnesses in court.
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In that meeting, the ruling party summoned him again and Gaillard warned last week that the prosecutor “has to come to testify in person”, that in the event of a new absence “the process of impeachment will begin, to be able to summon him to testify by the public force” and the request to make a written statement was rejected.
The ruling party rebuked Stornelli with references to the internal regulations of the impeachment committee of the Lower House, which determines that judicial officials must appear “to testify”, with the exception of the positions of President and vice president.
The new absence of Carlos Stornelli deepens the rift between the ruling party and the opposition
The new failure of the federal prosecutor to the impeachment committee of the lower house increased the tension between the Frente de Todos and Juntos por el Cambio, due to the rift between the ruling party and the opposition regarding the summons of the federal prosecutor to testify for the K onslaught on the Supreme Court.
In last week’s session, the deputy of Together for Change and head of the Civic Coalition bloc in the lower house, Juan Manuel López, criticized the ruling party’s decision to summon Stornelli again, with claims for nullity of the trial, which generated crosses in the room. The opposition deputy recriminated Gaillard that he cannot “take that attribution”, in reference to the new summons to the prosecutor, and said that the National Constitution grants “functional immunity” to the members of that body: “If there was someone who would have the power to declare in writing, it would be legislators and members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” among whom is Stornelli.
Why the ruling party summoned the prosecutor Carlos Stornelli to the impeachment commission
The Frente de Todos summoned Stornelli to testify in the impeachment committee in Deputies as a witness after federal judge Sebastián Ramos acknowledged that he had decided to file the case for the suspicious chats between Silvio Robles, spokesman for the presidency of the Court, and the former Buenos Aires Minister of Justice and Security Marcelo D’Alessandro following the recommendations of the prosecutor’s opinion.
In his opinion, Stornelli considered that the investigation could not take place because the chats had been obtained “as a result of criminal activity” based on illegal espionage through hacking.