Buenos Aires, December 22 (NA) – The Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation did not approve a request from Fabiola Yañez's complaint to reach the Supreme Court in its rejection of the change of judge in the case for the alleged gender-based violence exercised by former President Alberto Fernández, so Judge Daniel Rafecas was ratified in that file. The resolution of the country's highest federal criminal court thus made final the continuity of the process under the orbit of Judge Rafecas, after initially being in charge of Julián Ercolini until he was recused by Alberto Fernández. The recent ruling, signed by Court of Appeals judges Ángela Ledesma and Guillermo Yacobuchi, declared inadmissible the extraordinary federal appeal against the decision of Cassation, which on October 6 removed Ercolini from the case, with whom the former head of state, according to him, had a "manifest enmity", after a friendship united them. According to the resolution accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the presentation of the former First Lady did not meet the formal requirements for this type of resources nor did it manage to demonstrate the existence of a sufficient issue that would enable the arrival to the Court with the matter. For Cassation, the arguments of Yañez's defense "only show a different opinion on the issue debated and resolved" and do not constitute any arbitrariness. "The doctrine of arbitrariness requires the demonstration of serious defects in the decision challenged that disqualify it as a valid jurisdictional act, which the appellant has not proven," the judges stated. On October 6, the same Cassation Chamber II upheld a motion from the defense of former President Alberto Fernández, removed Ercolini, ratified the validity of everything done up to that moment in the investigation, and ordered a new draw for a judge. With the recent decision of Cassation, Rafecas was left in a position to continue with the file and subsequently initiate the path to an oral trial. Fernández is accused of alleged "coercive threats and minor and serious injuries, aggravated by the bond and having been committed in a context of gender violence". These crimes provide for up to 15 years in prison and according to the prosecution's accusation, they would have been committed from 2016 until August 2024. According to the prosecution's accusation, Fernández exercised "systematic violence" against Yañez within the framework of an asymmetrical power relationship, which was later aggravated during his tenure as President.
