The parents of Natalia Melmann have filed an extraordinary appeal with the Court of Cassation following the confirmation of the temporary releases of Oscar Echenique, one of the police officers sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to the 25-page document sent by judicial sources to the Noticias Argentinas news agency, the appeal was filed due to the rejection of the defense's pleadings, which were deemed "inadmissible".
"The challenged resolution violates constitutional and supra-legal guarantees, affects our right to effective access to justice, disregards the participation of victims in the criminal process, and consolidates an arbitrary and unreasonable interpretation of article 450 of the Buenos Aires Province Procedural Code, which prevents judicial control over execution benefits that directly compromise the safety of the Melmann family", the text states.
Attorneys Yamil Castro Bianchi and Federico Andrés Paruolo state that "the judicial act authorizes" Echenique to enjoy temporary releases, a benefit that "attacks the psychological integrity" of Laura Calampuca and Gustavo Melmann, while they also allege "arbitrariness" and "denial of jurisdiction".
In this sense, the victim's parents highlight that Judge Carlos Ángel Natiello, president of the Third Cassation Chamber, pointed out the unconstitutionality of the ruling on the grounds that the law prevents convicts of this type of crime from accessing parole.
"The Tribunal itself faces a decision that, according to one of its members, openly violates the legal framework of sentence execution; however, the majority decides not to correct that situation or order a new ruling in accordance with the law, but to close the instance by arguing that the case is not formally appealable", the lawyers add.
They also reproach the violation of the right of those affected to participate in the criminal process, the erroneous interpretation of article 450 of the Buenos Aires Province Procedural Code, and the violation of the standard of sufficient motivation, as established by article 171 of the Buenos Aires Constitution (every sentence must be based on the express text of the law).
The affected parties requested that the benefit granted to Echenique, who is detained in Unit No. 44 Penal in Batán, be revoked, and, subsidiarily, that Cassation issue a new ruling in accordance with the law.
The femicide Natalia Melmann was found on February 4, 2001, under a pile of leaves in the "Florentino Ameghino" nursery in the seaside city of Miramar, and the autopsy revealed that she was strangled with the cord of her sneakers, although at first glance the body presented bruises, burns, fractures, and a blow to the skull.
Following the events, it was determined that she had been sexually abused with carnal access by five men, including Anselmini, Ricardo Suárez, and Echenique, sentenced to life imprisonment for the crimes of "kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse with carnal access by multiple persons and homicide for the purpose of committing a crime".
The ex-convict Gustavo "Gallo" Fernández received 25 years for his participation in the kidnapping, although the sentence was reduced to ten years. Ricardo Panadero had been acquitted twice "due to lack of evidence", although the Provincial Criminal Cassation Tribunal decided in 2019 to annul the ruling and announced that the fourth police officer of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police must be tried for his participation in the crime.
Finally, on November 13, 2019, the Third Chamber of the Buenos Aires Province Court of Cassation annulled that acquittal and ordered that a new process be carried out, which was held in 2023 where Panadero was declared guilty of the crimes of "illegal deprivation of liberty aggravated, aggravated sexual abuse and doubly aggravated homicide, by the premeditated agreement of two or more people and for having been committed to ensure impunity" and received life imprisonment.
