"Sergio Berni has been fierce with us," said Facundo Astudillo Castro's mother

Gabriel Bermudez

08/24/2020 - 18:47

• Clarín.com
• Police

"It has left me satisfied and calm, " said Cristina Castro about the meeting she held this Monday with President Alberto Fernández. "I looked him in the eye and he has been sincere and very kind," said Facundo Astudillo Castro's mother, a day after the 23rd birthday of her son, who has been missing since April 30. "That does not mean that he is not going to go out and ask for the truth to be told about what happened to him ," he clarified after the meeting he had alone with the head of state.

After the meeting, held this afternoon at Casa Rosada, the Minister of Security Sabina Frederic met with the plaintiff lawyers Luciano Peretto and Leandro Aparicio, who are accompanying Facundo's mother. “A nice work table was put together. It was a very good meeting. They put a lot of white-on-black things and they passed it on, ”said Cristina Castro in a virtual press conference held at the headquarters of Amnesty International Argentina and in which Clarín participated .

"We have made him notice that there are things that are said that are not like that, " added Cristina about the dialogue with Fernández regarding statements made by Sergio Berni. The Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, who communicated twice with Cristina Castro since the case became public, described the hypothesis of Facundo's forced disappearance supported by her mother as a “show” .

Facundo Castro's mother and his lawyers, on Sunday 16, at the place where they found the body that will be autopsied tomorrow. Photo Pablo Presti

"He is the one who is doing a show on television and what he would have to do is sit down for 5 minutes and get to work, " the woman replied. He added that Berni "has been angry with us" and warned that he is not afraid of him. “I would tell you that just as you are treating me, you are treating hundreds of parents whose children have entered police stations and turned up dead. I would like to know if you have called these relatives. When I have called you, there I am going to tell you to start talking ”he commented.

Castro also went to the crossing on other statements by Berni in which he assured that the case had passed to the federal jurisdiction by decision of Axel Kicillof. "It would be good if the governor clarifies it," said the woman, who said she is looking forward to a face-to-face meeting with the provincial leader. “I don't believe in people if I don't look them in the face. I would like to talk to him, because I think his minister (for Berni) is putting words in his mouth that he never said . This man should open his eyes a little more and see what he is saying "he said.

Facundo Astudillo Castro, disappeared since April 30 in the area of ​​the Villarino district, in the south of Buenos Aires.

Attorney Peretto commented that the dialogue with Frederic gave rise to proposals for measures that the complaint is going to take on file. "We are not going to advance them, but we are in agreement with the institutional support and the mechanism in place to guarantee independence and speed, two imperatives that the State is being asked of internationally in this case," he said.

For the lawyer who advises Facundo's mother, prosecutor Santiago Ulpiano Martínez "is not representing the State as Cristina deserves" and accused him of making "enormous efforts to try not to get to the truth." For Peretto "the Procuratorate has to receive Cristina and listen to her as a citizen to enforce her rights."

For his part, Aparicio also charged Berni. "He does not know anything about what he is talking about," said the lawyer for the complaint, who also described Martínez "as one of the best defenders of the police in the province of Buenos Aires." He also criticized Judge María Gabriela Marrón, who has already twice rejected the recusal of the prosecutor raised by the complaint.

According to Aparicio, the judge would have given "carte blanche" to Buenos Aires to act in verifying compliance with the decrees that established the quarantine. "We believe that he had an irregular action when delegating, to the police of the province, without any type of control, for a matter of comfort because he did not want the causes to fall," said the lawyer.

Cristina Castro, at the beginning of August, during one of the marches to ask for the appearance of her son, Facundo Astudillo Castro. Photo Pablo Presti

On April 30, two officers drew Facundo an infraction report, another picked him up on the road and transported him to Lieutenant Origone where a fourth officer seized him and allowed him to continue his journey. "Without words," answered Cristina Castro when asked what the president thought of the prosecutor and the judge's actions.

He confirmed that this Tuesday at 9 o'clock he will go to the former ESMA building, where the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team will begin with the autopsy of the disintegrated corpse found on Saturday 15 in Villarino Viejo. “We don't know how far we are going to participate. You have to let them do their job and wait patiently for what they can say. As if it were an operating room. We will be there waiting for a response and progress, ”said the woman, who was accompanied by Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina.

The lawyer Peretto added that the work will begin with the removal of the genetic material from the skeletonized body, which will then be sent to Córdoba for collation with DNA samples from Facundo's mother and father. He estimated that by September 5 it could be known if it is the boy. Before that key expertise, they will have the first meeting with Dr. Virginia Creimer who will act as a party expert. "She has a copy of the entire file and has advanced some interesting conclusions for the complaint," said the lawyer.

At the end of the conference, Cristina thanked the journalists for their participation and the support of Amnesty, which last month promoted urgent action to ask both Berni and Martínez for measures to help solve the case. “As a mom, we can't afford to break down and fall apart. You have to go out and scream again. I had a son and I realized how many parents have the same thing. And when they touch us a child, they touch our soul . You have to listen to the mothers, ”Cristina closed.

White Bay. Correspondent.

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