In response to the appeal, the court decided to revise the schedule. Buenos Aires, March 5 (NA) – In the case of the disappearance of Loan Peña, the defense attorney requested the Oral Court in Criminal and Federal Matters of Corrientes to start the trial against the 17 accused on May 8, the minor's birthday. However, the judges rejected the request as "impertinent." In the document accessed by the Argentine News Agency, the request to set the date for the oral and public hearing to begin next Friday, May 8, is highlighted, "given the singularity of the case, the persistence of the uncertainty surrounding the victim, and the reinforced duty of protection that falls on the State when the rights of a child are at stake." It also adds that a schedule of at least forty consecutive and uninterrupted sessions should be arranged, ensuring the effective continuity of the trial until its conclusion, with additional sessions as necessary according to the development of the evidence, even by enabling non-working days or judicial vacation periods if necessary. The attorneys emphasize that the request for this schedule is "in order to ensure compliance with the constitutional and conventional standard of a reasonable time limit and effective judicial protection for both the victim and the accused." The court received the petition, but in its brief response, it informed that the date was rejected "for being impertinent" and that the scheduling of the proceedings "is strictly subject to the docket of this judiciary and the judges of other Courts that are part of the present one."
In this case, due to a lack of magistrates, the court is composed of judges Fermín Amado Ceroleni, Eduardo Ariel Belforte, and Simón Pedro Bracco. The first is the only one from Corrientes, while Belforte is from Formosa and Bracco from Río Negro. The request was made after a preliminary hearing in which Ceroleni informed that the trial would begin on October 7, which caused anger among the prosecution, the defense, and some of the accused's lawyers.
