The Sala II of the Federal Appeals Court of Buenos Aires confirmed today, Friday, December 26, the indictment of Gendarmerie Corporal Héctor Jesús Guerrero for firing a tear gas grenade directly at the head of photographer Pablo Grillo, causing injuries that nearly killed him, during the repression of a retirees' march on March 12, 2024, which was ordered and commanded by Patricia Bullrich, former Minister of Security for Javier Milei.
Thus, the Gendarmerie corporal was charged as 'criminally responsible for the crime of grievous bodily injury, aggravated by abuse of his function as a member of a security force, in real conjunction with the crime of aggravated abuse of a weapon due to abuse of his function as a member of a security force.' Additionally, they ordered a 'seizure of $35,000,000 of his assets.'
In their ruling, the judges considered it proven that Gendarmerie Corporal Guerrero fired at least six shots on the afternoon of March 12, 2025, between 5:00 and 5:22 PM, with a gas launcher weapon in a horizontal position towards the group of protesters, one of which hit Grillo in the head and caused 'serious and grievous injuries.' Along these lines, the tribunal considered that one of those shots – identified as 'shot 4' – first passed through a wooden structure and then hit the photographer in the head, without the projectile losing speed or trajectory, which was corroborated by medical and technical expert reports.
Signed by Judges Eduardo Farah, Martín Irurzun, and Roberto Boico, the Sala II of the Federal Appeals Court of Buenos Aires confirmed today, Friday, December 26, the indictment of Gendarmerie Corporal Héctor Jesús Guerrero for firing a tear gas grenade directly at the head of photographer Pablo Grillo, causing injuries that nearly killed him, during the repression of a retirees' march on March 12 of this year, ordered by Patricia Bullrich, former Minister of Security for Javier Milei.
Following this line of reasoning, the judges considered that Guerrero fired negligently but consciously and that it was an eventual dolus, and regarding the remaining shots, they understood that he acted with direct dolus by objectively exposing a group of people to a concrete danger.
Meanwhile, in a divided ruling, the court also confirmed the indictment of Prefect Sebastián Martínez for shooting at Jonathan Navarro (an incident for which he lost vision in one eye). Likewise, rejecting the defense's arguments that the weapon does not allow for precise aiming and that the projectile's trajectory is erratic, the Chamber considered that far from exonerating the gendarme-criminal, the weapon's characteristics should have led him to reinforce caution in its use due to its potential risk of causing serious injuries when fired directly at human groups.
In his vote, Judge Roberto Boico explicitly raised the need to deepen the investigation into the authorities in charge of the operation. That is, Patricia Bullrich.
