Judge Marcela Vargas ruled this Wednesday to partially grant the request by former Senator Gustavo Penadés' defense team to access WhatsApp messages from the phones of Romina Celeste Papasso and Paula Díaz, the trans woman convicted of filing a false complaint against Yamandú Orsi during the 2023 election campaign. The measure seeks to limit the information to exchanges with victims and is limited to last year, in order to protect the privacy of the complainants.
The hearing marked the first appearance by prosecutor Isabel Ithurralde, who took over the case following the departure of Alicia Ghione, certified as having stress, and replacing Mónica Ferrero. The Prosecutor's Office clarified that access will not be complete, as unrestricted access would violate the victims' rights. Therefore, it was limited to specific discussions that may be relevant to the case.
In that same instance, the Prosecutor's Office expanded the formal charges against Penadés for an alleged crime of private violence linked to an incident in 2014. The former senator's defense team filed an appeal. The Public Prosecutor's Office has until October 10 to file the formal charges, in which it will detail the charges, the legal classification it deems applicable, and the evidence it will present to the judge.
Defense attorneys Laura Robatto and Homero Guerrero argued that so far partial reports conversations with victims whose identities are reserved in which financial compensation for testifying is mentioned, including allegedly higher amounts if Penadés is prosecuted.
Until now, this information remained confidential due to a decision by Judge Vargas, at the request of prosecutor Ghione, which kept access to the witnesses' phones blocked. The new ruling opens a middle ground that attempts to balance the need for defense with the protection of the victims' privacy.
The hearing also served as one of the final stages before the trial of Penadés and Sebastián Mauvezín, both in pretrial detention. Federico Rodríguez, a police officer already convicted of collaborating with Carlos Tarocco, former director of the Santiago Vázquez prison, in an attempt to illegally obtain personal information about victims linked to the case, has yet to testify.
