Justice rejected the house arrest of Ricardo Jaime after a decompensation in prison

Federal Oral Court 6 this afternoon rejected the house arrest of former transport secretary Ricardo Jaime, claimed by his defense after a decompensation in the Ezeiza prison.

“In the light of the results of the medical evaluations carried out, and in view of the evidence that the deceased has received from the medical service of the accommodation unit the services necessary for the care of his health — including through transfer to a hospital outside the walls — no reasons are given to justify his home detention based on this predicament”, says the resolution agreed to by Infobae.

According to Jaime's lawyers, the former official suffered an “ischemic stroke”, which “poses a serious risk to his health.” They also argued the state of “absolute helplessness in which their mother is”. In fact, they proposed that the former Secretary of Transport comply with the domiciliary office in the province of Córdoba with his mother.

Jaime's health problem occurred on Sunday, February 27 and was spread through the Twitter account managed by his relatives. There on March 2 at 11.09 PM the following was published: “Last night the doctor came and (Sic) head of duty came to tell me that today they had to take me to the Hospital because Sunday was a stroke and need to continue their studies. I refused 6 YEARS of Pretrial Detention is ILLEGAL and whatever God wants.”

That day Jaime was transferred to the Italian Hospital but refused to be hospitalized even though local doctors advised him to do so. The former official signed a record in which his refusal was recorded.

Prosecutor Gabriela Baigun had spoken out in favor of the house. “Jaime suffered a specific episode that put his health at risk and that prompted the Prison Service to transfer him from his place of detention to a hospital located within this city. And although no new events of this kind were found later, the fact is that the mere fact that it happened on one occasion is already serious, especially if one takes into account that, in view of his actions, the SPF authorities obviously considered that the defendant's suffering could not be treated in Unit IV of Ezeiza,” he argued.

However, the judges of TOF 6 rejected the request based on medical reports stating that “the patient had no evaluable neurological sequelae on physical examination since his return to that unit on 2/27/22; and having undergone a new MRI of the brain, the results were within normal parameters”.

The trial against Jaime began in 2019: he is accused of illicit enrichment, two cases for the use of cars for his own benefit and for the purchase of junk trains to Spain and Portugal. He was arrested in April 2016 by order of Judge Julián Ercolini, who was investigating the purchase of railway equipment in Europe. Between 2018 and 2020 he also served part of his sentence in prison for the Tragedy of Once, a decision that is not yet final but which had been confirmed by Cassation.

From 2020 until now he remains in detention by order of the Federal Oral Court 6.

The case of illicit enrichment began in 2008. From then until 2012, he was in charge of the court where the patrimonial growth of Jaime, the late judge Norberto Oyarbide, was being investigated. In October 2012, he took over the Sebastián Casanello Court, who tried Jaime and the front men in 2014. In 2016, prosecutor Carlos Rívolo formalized the indictment so that the case could go to oral and public trial.

In 2018, Jaime had entered into an agreement with prosecutor Baigun to plead guilty to the crime of illicit enrichment in an abbreviated trial. He had agreed to serve a sentence and return part of the money he had illegally obtained. But TOF 6 rejected the agreement.

During the trial, judges Julio Panelo, Fernando Canero, José Martínez Sobrino and Ricardo Basílico (as the fourth judge) already heard about 300 witnesses. Last February, when the trial resumed after Judge Martínez Sobrino resigned and the defenses of the accused raised the nullity of the trial due to the change in the composition of the Tribunal: Basílico remained as third judge.

The trial entered the final stage and the verdict is expected in the coming weeks.

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