Brazilian citizen Fernando Sabag Montiel, the main defendant for the failed attack against the former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez (2007-2015), admitted this Wednesday that he had wanted to kill her because – as he said during the investigative statement at the beginning of the oral trial – she was “corrupt.”
Sabag Montiel, 37, admitted having pulled the trigger “once” in front of the former president’s face on the night of September 1, 2022, an event that caused a great political and social commotion, and mobilized large sectors of the country against hate speech and political violence.
”“I base my act on the fact that I did it because she is a thief,” said Montiel, who added that her partner, Brenda Uliarte, accused as a co-author, and Nicolás Carrizo, accused as a co-author and necessary participant, incriminated themselves because they were supposedly “financed.”.
Sabag Montiel He referred to the alleged hypothesis that the assassination attempt was financed by third parties, although the Federal Prosecutor’s Office No. 2, headed by prosecutor Carlos Alberto Rívolo, indicated that it was not possible to prove alleged links in the crime with far-right and centre-right movements in Argentina.
The defendant, who was the material author of the crime, reaffirmed that “(trying) to kill Cristina (Fernández)” was “an act of justice and not an act” in which he tried to benefit himself financially.
He also stated before the judges of the Federal Criminal Oral Court No. 6 of Buenos Aires that if his objective was achieved “there would be destabilization” and “a civil war.”
According to the tests carried out on the Bersa Thunder model pistol, which was used by Montiel, the .22 caliber projectile did not leave the chamber because the weapon was not cocked.
The accused indicated that he did not try again because he was intercepted by followers of Fernández, alluding to the group of adherents who stood guard in front of his residence for several days at that time to show him support. Fernández had just been accused of corruption during her term.
”I didn’t reload the gun again because I was intercepted. I had no moment of departure or escape from the plan. “I was thirty centimeters away from her,” he added.
Montiel’s statements are in line with some of the testimonies read during the hearing and that were collected in the investigation along with audiovisual material captured by the local press and several passersby, present on the day of the attack, and will be displayed every Wednesday until they have the 277 witnesses presented by the Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the judicial investigation, both Montiel, Uliarte and Carrizo sold cotton candy in the vicinity of Fernández’s department with the intention of becoming familiar with the place, its movements and the custody of the then vice president (2019-2023).
However, Sabag Montiel admitted to having planned and organized the attack, and that Uliarte’s role was only that of “accompanying” and that he and Carrizo only had a “working relationship.”
On the latter’s cell phone, conversations linked to the attack were found in which the accused talked about their ‘modus operandi’, which Montiel considered “fabricated”: “I never told Carrizo what I was going to do to preserve myself.” ”.
“I know that they received money to record the premeditated actions of two or three people. They used counterintelligence to muddy the waters,” he added. He also said that after being arrested by the police, his phone was destroyed and replaced with another.
During the last questions in the hearing, one of the plaintiff lawyers, José Manuel Uberia, who represents Cristina Fernández, asked him if he felt regret, to which Montiel replied: “I would feel more sorry if it had happened, perhaps.” The trial will continue next Wednesday with the investigations of Uliarte and Carrizo with the first witnesses in the case.
Source: Gestion
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