Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri has again been summoned to give a statement in the case of accusations of espionage by the secret services of families of victims of the
San Juan
, a submarine whose sinking in 2017 left 44 dead .
Judge Martin Bava summoned the ex-president (2015-2019) for Wednesday, November 3, after his successor Alberto Fernandez lifted by decree the obligation of secrecy on information matters that fell to his predecessor.
This is Judge Bava's fourth summons concerning Mauricio Macri, since early October, in the context of this case.
Read also Argentina's submarine San Juan would have imploded in 40 milliseconds
The former president, 62, appeared on Thursday before a judge in Dolores, 200 km south of Buenos Aires, but the hearing was suspended at the request of his lawyer. The latter then explained that the court
"does not have the authorization to lift the secrecy on the information so that Mr. Macri can testify".
Mauricio Macri, who denounces a
political
"persecution"
, did not respond to two previous summonses to appear, the first because he was abroad and the second because he had requested the disqualification of Judge Bava, which caused him been refused. After an investigation, the judge has 10 days to decide whether or not to prosecute him.
For Judge Bava, the Head of State at the time had
"full knowledge"
of the monitoring carried out by the intelligence services on the families of the crew.
The
San Juan
had disappeared in November 2017 in the South Atlantic, 400 km from the coast of Patagonia.
Located a year later at 900 m deep, it could never be refloated, against the wishes of the families.
According to the navy, the submersible which dated from 1983 had imploded due to technical failures.
The families had led at the time an intense campaign to know the fate of the submarine.
They claimed to have been the subject of spinning, wiretapping, intimidation.
Read also: Argentinian submarine missing: families request an investigation
As part of the same investigation, legal proceedings have already been initiated against two former intelligence chiefs, Gustavo Arribas and Silvia Majdalani.