Yawning and 'absurd' process: the faces of prosecutor Claudio Scapolan at the start of the jury against him

Claudio Scapolan (52) entered the Buenos Aires Senate Annex building dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, in La Plata.

He yawned - which he did not bother to hide - minutes before hearing the very serious accusation against him in the jury that began this Tuesday: being the leader of a gang that, together with the police, set up operations and extorted money from people always related to drug trafficking cases.

"Today we have

due to the damage to the image of Justice due to the magnitude of the denounced conducts," said the attorney general of Pergamino, Mario Gómez, in his role as accuser.

The suspended San Isidro prosecutor arrived before everyone else.

Then two key witnesses entered who are going to testify today: the federal prosecutor of San Isidro Fernando Domínguez and the federal judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, who investigated and prosecuted him, respectively, although she ended up being challenged.

The arrival of Sandra Arroyo Salgado.

Photo Mauricio Nievas.

The process started at 9:33 and it took 15 minutes just to read the twists and turns that the file had since the former deputy Elisa "Lilita" Carrió denounced it on November 15, 2016.

"Scapolan had

," said prosecutor Gómez, while the defendant wrote down everything he was saying.

The defense of the suspended prosecutor for Complex Crimes, led by Luciano Locatelli, then warned that the process "is void because the jury was challenged" and considered it "

".

To argue this, he referred to the decision of Chamber I of the Federal Chamber of San Martín that on June 15, 2020, revoked the prosecution for illicit association that weighed on Scapolan.

Claudio Scapolan.

Photo Mauricio Nievas.

who is scapolan

Scapolan was, for years, the strong man of the resigned Attorney General

, who back in 2013 sounded like

's Minister of Justice , if he became president.

Novo today awaits an oral trial, accused of protecting drug traffickers.

On February 23, after many comings and goings and after almost all possible Buenos Aires judges excused themselves from intervening in the case, the Trial Jury decided to set a date for Scapolan's jury for this Tuesday.

The decision was almost unanimous.

Only legislator Sofía Vannelli (Frente de Todos) voted in dissent, a reference to massismo, a sector from which Scapolan and his former boss, former attorney general Julio Novo, always received support.

The jury takes place in the Buenos Aires Senate.

Photo Mauricio Nievas.

Although for the moment the accusations in the Justice against Scapolan were (via the Chamber) reduced to a firm prosecution for "falsification of a public instrument", the jury arrives accused of the conducts for which at the time the judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado asked that they

him they went to stop him.

In the jury, Scapolan is identified as the head of a gang made up of police officers, court officials and lawyers dedicated to extortion, the arming of operatives and the resale of drugs seized in anti-drug proceedings.

, accused him of all this

, based on the evidence gathered in a file that originally began in 2016 with a complaint from the deputy

.

Added to this complaint - which has been dormant for years - was the investigation carried out by the federal prosecutor of San Isidro

and judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado.

In December of last year, the Jury for the Prosecution of Officials and Magistrates of the Province of Buenos Aires - chaired by Judge Ana María Bourimborde - decided to suspend Scapolan and start the path towards his political trial.

This Tuesday the federal prosecutor Fernando Domínguez and the federal judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado will testify.

Photo Mauricio Nievas.

The prosecutor was automatically left with a garnishment of 40 percent of his salary.

But more importantly: he missed the opportunity to resign from his position to stop his possible removal.

Since the criminal proceedings against him began, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, 32 people - including drug traffickers, lawyers and police officers - have been prosecuted and are currently waiting for the Federal Oral Court No. 1 of San Isidro to set a date for an oral and public trial.

At the time, Arroyo Salgado prosecuted Scapolan as head of a gang of lawyers and police officers who set up cases, extorted drug traffickers, and stole cocaine from proceedings.

But his defense appealed and in June 2022 Room I of the Federal Chamber of San Martín turned everything around and only confirmed a tiny part of what was resolved by the judge.

EMJ

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