Court of Cassation Ruled on Use of Cooperating Defendants

In case CFP 9886/2018/30/CFC3, a former federal judge was indicted on charges of bribery, for his alleged cooperation with a drug trafficking organization.

Among other evidence, the indictment was based on the admissions made by a cooperating defendant. The use of cooperating defendants was introduced to the Argentine Criminal Code in 2016, awarding substantial reduction of the criminal sentence to those defendants providing valuable evidence against co-conspirators.

In this context, the defense challenged the constitutional validity of the government’s use of cooperating defendants, alleging a violation of the right to a fair trial. Both the acting court and the court of appeals dismissed the challenge, motivating the defendant’s appeal before the Federal Court of Cassation.

On analyzing the circumstances of the case, Section IV of the Federal Court of Cassation upheld the rulings and rejected the motion brought by the defense. Essentially, the Court of Cassation held that the defendant failed to show a violation of his constitutional rights. Moreover, the Court added that the indictment in question does not stand as the case’s final ruling, and is therefore not subject to revision by the Court of Cassation.

All in all, and although the indictment stands, the Court of Cassation rejected the challenge on formal grounds. Therefore, this ruling would not prevent a new analysis of the matter if the same court should be required to review a conviction.