One day after the Supreme Court of Argentina agreed to the ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which demanded that the Argentinean justice and the national government provide, as a minimum, the house arrest of Milagro Sala in order to preserve her physical integrity, the Federal Court No. 2 of Jujuy acquitted the Tupac Amaru leader.
“Despite the years in which I have been harassed in this case, it has been shown that I am really innocent,” Sala said while being removed from the hearing by the Prison Service of the province of Jujuy, in northern Argentina.
For the past 692 days, Sala has been arbitrarily detained and cases have been created and complaints filed against her, in a staggered manner, in order to prolong the effects of pre-trial detention.
The lawyer for the social leader, Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta explained that “the judges acquitted Sala based on the principle of doubt, that’s all we know. We will have to see if the prosecuting parties appeal.” The defence of the leader of the Tupac Amaru Neighbourhood Organization is completed by lawyers Paula Alvarez Carreras and Luis Paz.
“There are moments when the obvious lies are broken, the fakes are exposed and the curtain falls and there is no more room to dictate a sentence,” added Gómez Alcorta about the lack of consistency of the case, made more than three years ago by the son of the now-governor Gerardo Morales.
“The Court made it known to the judges that they must comply immediately and fully with the Human Rights Court’s ruling, and this means that there is no longer any margin, there is no excuse to keep Milagro in prison for one more minute,” she said, explaining that the IACHR also ordered that the sentence be served in her habitual residence in the Cuyaya neighborhood and not in the El Carmen building, where she stayed for a few weeks and that was unfit for human habitation.
“We are going to eliminate and destroy every accusation against Milagro. Today it has been demonstrated that the armed forces of the Executive Branch have limits,” said Sala Luis Paz’s lawyer. Gómez Alcorta, for her part, celebrated that “Milagro Sala will spend Christmas at home with her family.
