Julio De Vido, former Minister of Federal Planning during the administration of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner He was convicted in the second trial for the Once railway tragedy and was detained in prison again. This Wednesday, the Federal Oral Court No. 4 He rejected his defense’s request so that he would not be placed behind bars again. The judges Néstor Costabel, Ricardo Basilico and Fernando Caneroin a seven-page resolution they ratified the four-year sentence that the Supreme Court of Justice made final this week.
De Vido’s defense, led by the lawyer Maximiliano Rusconi, He made two proposals: one to suspend Thursday’s arrest order and another so that, if his arrest is carried out, he can access a regime of house arrest. This second issue has not yet been resolved by TOF No. 4, since they must evaluate that the 75-year-old former official is hypertensive and insulin dependent, suffers from left ventricular hypertrophy and asthma.
For this reason, the former official’s representatives will present new medical documentation that would prove that the former minister is not fit to serve his sentence in a prison. So far the Court announced that it does not comply with any of the conditions that the law contemplates to suspend the execution of a custodial sentence.
According to current regulations, only two situations can suspend compliance with an effective sentence: if the person is a pregnant woman or a mother with children under six months old, or if the person suffers from a serious illness that puts their life at risk, which must be confirmed by official experts.
On February 22, 2012, the so-called Once tragedy claimed the lives of 52 people and left more than 700 injured. The mechanical failure of a train ended up colliding with the structures of the terminal located in Plaza Miserere on the Sarmiento line. De Vido was sentenced to four years in prison for fraudulent administration, since it was proven that he did not properly control the use of public funds assigned to Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA). He was also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.
The conviction for the Tragedy of Once is the first sentence on the former minister that becomes final in the Court. It is not the first time that the Peronist leader has been deprived of his freedom. After losing his privileges as a national deputy in October 2017, he was arrested for the first time in the Río Turbio case and was detained for a couple of years in Marcos Paz.
This year, the former minister was also found guilty in the first instance for irregularities in the acquisition of 11 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels between 2008 and 2009. In 2022 he had already been convicted for the purchase of “junk trains” from Spain and Portugal during the government of Néstor Kirchner. In both trials he received a sentence of four years in prison.
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