The Federal Justice is already working on the investigation of the actions of the Federal Police in the context of the arrest of a cameraman from the A24 channel. Also in focus is the possible failure to perform duties by the security force that kept him in police custody despite the fact that the release order had already been issued.
It all happened this Thursday morning. Around 7 in the morning, a group of Greenpeace activists entered the steps of Congress to carry out a protest action against the Glacier Law that the Senate has been discussing since this noon. Immediately, members of the Federal Police went to the scene to evict and arrest them.
The 12 activists were taken to a parking lot located in front of the Legislative Palace, on Hipólito Yrigoyen Street. Quickly, this procedure captured the attention of the press workers of the different TV channels that were there, including Facundo Tedeschinifrom A24.
From the accounts of witnesses and the images recorded by other channels, it was possible to reconstruct that there had been a police order for the press workers to relocate to another place and leave access to the parking lot free. In the meantime, the cameramen began to move, but an officer violently approached Tedeschini.
“When I tried to go back, I couldn’t because they were stepping on my roll of cable. I told them that I had the roll and that I couldn’t go back, they keep running over me and I feel the pepper spray, blows and I fall,” said the press worker as he left the Ramos Mejía Hospital.
When he fell to the ground, the cameraman was again approached by the police and ended up detained in the same parking lot where the activists were. A few minutes later he was taken to the hospital in a SAME ambulance. “There a colleague asked me if I was detained, I told him that I didn’t know and I asked the officer, who told me yes, that I was detained,” Tedeschini added in later statements.
The violent episode, which garnered widespread condemnation from the journalistic community, is already being investigated by the Federal Justice Department. The one who intervenes is the judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgiwhich has two files: that of the arrest of the Greenpeace activists and that of the arrest of the cameraman.
The judge first intervened in the case of the 12 activists because it was a violation of the home and because the Congress building was under federal jurisdiction. Although it is a public space, there was no authorization to enter the stair area, therefore they are being investigated for an infraction. At the close of this article they remained in police stations to carry out identification procedures, but according to judicial sources The release order for all of them has already been signed..
Due to the urgency of the case, the judge also made the decision to intervene in the arrest of the press worker, a case similar to those usually processed in the Buenos Aires Justice Department. That is why it is not ruled out that once Comodoro Py advances in clarifying the fact, he will refer the proceedings to the local jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the magistrate ordered that a witness statement be taken at police headquarters from the officer who attacked Tedeschini. He will not be investigated, but rather has the obligation to tell the truth since otherwise he could incur a case of false testimony. From early on, Martínez de Giorgi was dedicated to analyzing the images of the episode and it is not ruled out that other witnesses will be called to testify.
In addition to the investigation of the officer who arrested him, whose name has not yet been revealed, the cause also has the actions of the Federal Police in general on the radar. The A24 worker was taken to the hospital to be treated by police officers who, at the scene, confirmed that he was detained. The sequence was broadcast live on that same channel.
But the striking thing is that at that moment several minutes had passed since the judge had ordered his release, so the police had nothing to do there, said a source consulted by Time. This medium also learned that there was an explanation in which the Federal Police indicated that “they wanted to wait for what the doctors said.”
During that entire moment, the cameraman was “preventive” and “subject to preventive actions,” even though he should have been free, they stated.
That episode is also under judicial scrutiny, which will analyze whether there was police non-compliance with the order issued by the magistrate.
