Buenos Aires, November 20 (NA) — The trial over the 'notebooks of bribes' began. This is the third session of the megatrial in which former President Cristina Kirchner and 85 other defendants, including former officials and businessmen, are being tried. During the session, the Federal Oral Court (TOF) 7 also communicated the offer from the Court of Cassation regarding the modalities of the trial. The TOF 7, composed of judges Enrique Méndez Signori, Fernando Canero, and Germán Castelli, with Néstor Costabel as a fourth judge to join the panel, concluded with the reading of the defenses of 32 of the accused and the contributions from 19 collaborating defendants in the first part of the 'Notebooks' case, which investigates the existence of an illicit association between 2003 and 2015. Additionally, TOF 7 communicated the decision made after the November 18 meeting with the Superintendency of the National Court of Cassation regarding the modalities and frequency of the oral trial, given the number of accused and proposed witnesses, which exceed 600. The judges of TOF 7, who last week decided to add a second hearing starting November 25 for Tuesdays, presented a memo reiterating their requests to higher courts and the Supreme Court of Justice for more human resources and improvements in the building's infrastructure. Judge Castelli highlighted that the magistrates managed to conduct the investigation for the 'Notebooks' megatrial for the last 6 years in a 'small headquarters' with a 'single bathroom' and a 'modest hearing room' at the Palace of Justice located at Talcahuano 550. Castelli stated that 'with requests for resources and infrastructure only partially satisfied over 6 years, the court managed to initiate the oral and public trial under the conditions it could'. 'With its small headquarters, its single bathroom, and modest hearing room', he added. Dismissal and criticism from Cristina Kirchner On the other hand, the TOF resolved to dismiss from the trial and acquit Enrique Menotti Pescarmona (83), president of Industrias Metalúrgicas Pescarmona (IMPSA) SAICyF-, who presents 'a supervening mental incapacity derived from a progressive neurodegenerative disease', after the judges brought in specialists from the Forensic Medical Corps (CMF). In turn, former President Cristina Kirchner once again attacked the 'notebooks' trial by asserting that in Argentina there is 'no rule of law', as she expressed on her social networks before the hearing. 'Everything we warned about the barbarities, lies, and forgeries perpetrated in these operatic judicial cases is being proven true... one by one.'
