The cassation confirmed Judge Figueroa and will continue to …

The Federal Chamber of Cassation refused to remove one of its members, Ana María Figueroa, from the investigation for illegal espionage in macrismo, rejecting a challenge by the former head of the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) , Gustavo Arribas.

The decision was made by chambermaids Daniel Petrone and Diego Barroetaveña, who make up Chamber I of the highest criminal jurisdiction in the country along with Figueroa and are responsible for reviewing the decisions made in this court case in this case. “The challenger has not been able to demonstrate or prove the existence of sufficient objective elements, beyond his allegations on the point, which demonstrate the alleged bias,” concluded the chambermaids by rejecting the Arribas asks to remove Figueroa.

The former Macrista official has argued an alleged loss of impartiality because Figueroa testified as a witness in another investigation, linked to the functioning of a “judicial table” in the Macrismo. This case is being processed in the Federal Court of Buenos Aires headed by María Eugenia Capuchetti and the pressures and alleged interference by former officials and leaders of the macrismo are being investigated to direct the judicial inquiries.

Arribas’ lawyers, Alejandro Pérez Chada and Andrés Coronato, argued that the judge’s intervention as a witness “establishes an objective identity, appropriate and sufficient to establish a reasonable doubt on his impartial performance”. Figueroa, for his part, refused to step down and argued that, when he testified as a witness, “it did not implicate Arribas” and “did not appear to be bringing charges against anyone”. Figueroa was called as a witness after denouncing that former Justice Ministry official Juan Bautista Mahiques had visited her, who allegedly demanded that she “rush” a decision on signing the memorandum with Iran.