The odyssey of an Argentine lawyer sued in the Philippines and fined for taking a bullet

The lawyer and marathoner Daniel Sebastián Ujhelly was fined by a court in Falk of Malvinas for taking ammunition in Monte Longdon, where one of the battles of the war took place in 1982, and had to pay about 48,000 pesos to leave archipelago.

"It was a very expensive bullet," Ujhelly quipped in a dialogue with Telam, already relaxed from the corrious city of Curuzú Cuatiá, where he lived 5 years ago, after the odyssey that he had to live in the islands.

The lawyer traveled to the Malvinas on March 23 to participate in the southernmost marathon in the world, but his stay lasted until April 7, as he had to deal with several hours of detention and a brief trial that was followed and concluded. on payment of a fine of 800 pounds, or about 48,600 pesos.

"They accused me of possession of war ammunition," said the lawyer, who had to pay this figure to be able to leave the islands.

While he was about to return to the mainland on March 30 at Mount Pleasant Airport, he was detected – by X-ray – only in the suitcase shipped by the lawyer, there was a 7-millimeter ammunition; he was therefore arrested and detained. available to the authorities.

Ujhelly explained that he had found the ammunition during a visit to Mount Longdon, one of the locations where one of the bloodiest fights of the Falklands wars was taking place, and that he had taken as a souvenir because it was a "piece of history". .

As stated by the Penguin News, the main media of the islands, in the edition of today, the prosecutor, Stuart Walker, explained that the Argentine lawyer had not declared the object, despite warning signs regarding prohibited items. on a flight.

"The Islands Attorney has behaved well and said that I was not dangerous, that the ammunition did not really represent a danger to aviation and that staying in the hold did not represent a danger to the aviation and that staying in the hold did not represent a danger to the air force. There would be no access, "said Ujhelly, who had to face on the islands. a brief trial that included a videoconference with London.

"The London prosecutor was angry with me and accused me of attempting a terrorist attack more or less," he told Telam.

According to the Penguin News, the judge of the Court, James Brooks, pointed out that a similar offense in the United Kingdom could mean a custodial sentence of up to five years on the islands, no such recommendation exists, but at most a maximum allowable sentence of up to three months ".

However, he felt that the judges of the offenses should take into account "the early recognition of the responsibility of the accused, his willingness to cooperate and his evident lack of intention to use the ammunition for the purposes for which they were created ".

Finally, the absence judges Derek Clarke, Anton Liversmore and Paul Freer imposed a fine of 800 pounds, which was added to the other expenses faced by the marathoner who was to take another ticket. plane and extend his overnight stay in a hotel. Islands.

"I could have appealed the sentence, but if they granted me a hearing within three weeks, this represented an additional expense to stay in. The London prosecutor and the local judges were tough on the fine, "he complains, as well as the treatment he received from the police. local

"They treated me like a criminal, they made me take off my belt, my laces, my necklace and other objects, and they detained me until that day." that they interrogate me and blame me, about six hours in total, "recalled the lawyer, who did not ask the help of the Argentine Ministry of Affairs Foreign.

Finally, on Sunday 7, he was able to leave the islands with the weekly flight to the Chilean city of Punta Arenas. From there, he moved to Río Gallegos, and – via Buenos Aires – finally arrived home at Curuzú Cuatiá on Wednesday of this week.

This incident is in addition to other recent incidents in which several Argentineans have been arrested and even expelled from the islands for carrying Argentine flags.

"Visiting the Falkland Islands is a dream that has been thought about for a while and being here is something difficult to express with words," he wrote on March 25th on Facebook, without thinking about it. odyssey that he was going to have to live.