The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the defense of former Buenos Aires judge Cesar Melazo, who sought to avoid being charged as head of an illegal association in connection with the case in which he was convicted of being part of a large ring of La Plata police officers, barracks, prisoners and judicial personnel.
The Supreme Court, signed by Horacio Rosati, Carlos Rosencrantz and Ricardo Lorenzetti, rejected this submission, stating that it was not a final judgment or comparable to a final judgment.
Melaso had questioned a Buenos Aires Supreme Court decision ordering the state Court of Cassation to consider the prosecutor’s office’s proposal to aggravate the charges against him and label him as the head of a criminal organization.
Mr. Melazo, who served as a surety judge in La Plata, was sentenced in 2023 by the Second Oral Criminal Court to seven years and 10 months in prison for participating in an illegal association, illegal possession and concealment of a firearm for conditional civilian use. In the same judgment, former commissioner Gustavo Brusztin and former officers Gustavo Mena, Adrian Manes, Carlos Bertoni and Enrique “Quique” Petrullo were convicted.
Investigations show that the gang operated in the city between 2010 and 2015, carrying out residential burglaries, fraud and assaults under police and judicial supervision.
Prosecutors said the perpetrators operated within the open territory and received procedural benefits from relevant authorities if they were arrested.
Melazo resigned in June 2017 to avoid a political trial, and was arrested in August 2018 after his weapons were seized during an operation in Golina, where he was staying.
After the conviction, prosecutors aggravated the charges by claiming that the former magistrate headed the organization, but the court recognized that he was merely a member.
The Buenos Aires Supreme Court accepted this argument and ordered the case to be sent back to the Court of Cassation for trial.
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