[ad_1]
Xavier Armendáriz, head of the North Central Metropolitan Prosecutor’s Office, asked the Supreme Court to accept the position of the Ministry of Health, which refuses to deliver emails in the framework of the criminal investigation for the alleged misinformation of numbers of deaths from Covid -19, would set a “dismal” precedent for criminal investigations.
This is how the prosecutor responded to the highest court, after the report sent by Minister Enrique Paris, that in his argument to deny access to emails that the required information compromises national security, that the request “is indiscriminate, imprecise and of a excessive scope “and that the Public Ministry” hinders “the work of the Minsal.
In the brief, Armendariz admits “the argument that the information collected could exceed the framework of the basic investigation, it can occur in any entry, search and seizure procedure”, but -he argued-, “for obvious reasons, it cannot be left to the discretion of the requested which information is delivered “.
Therefore, “embracing such a position would obvious danger to the efficacy of any criminal investigation and would constitute a dire precedentIt goes without saying that the selection of the relevant evidence must be left to the investigating body or, where appropriate, fall within the sphere of competence of the guarantee judge. “
THE MINISTER “DOES NOT EXPLAIN” HOW IT WOULD AFFECT NATIONAL SECURITY
The persecutor further states that the report made by the minister “does not comply with what was ordered (by the Supreme Court) in order to make clear and founded the way in which national security would be affected by the delivery of the required information“; and although the” only rationale put forward, in good accounts, would be the need to keep the police and military deployment secret for population displacement control tasks, “it is a matter in which the Minsal has” no direct license “.
Refering to need to reserve private patient data raised by Paris, Armendariz specifies that “the authorities involved in it should not have sensitive data on certain patients”, and even if it is, it affirms that the Law of Duties and Rights of the Patient authorizes the Public Ministry to access them.
Responding, in addition, to the argument of the Secretary of State that the request of the Prosecutor’s Office “is not limited to any form, neither by reason of matter (…) nor for the clarification of the facts that are the object of the investigation,” the prosecutor metropolitan clarified that Article 218 of the Criminal Procedure Code establishes the “return of non-relevant information, which the requested authority seems to be unaware of.”
The prosecutor Armendariz requested access to the Minsal emails, however, the portfolio itself allegedly denied the Prosecutor’s Office access to the e-mails of former Minister Jaime Mañalich, his then chief of staff, Itziar Linazasoro, and the current Undersecretary of Public Health, Paula Daza; all in a cause that has as defendants Mañalich, President Sebastián Piñera and the undersecretaries Paula Daza and Arturo Zúñiga.
PARIS INSISTS: “WE ARE DEPUTIES TO DELIVER THE NECESSARY BACKGROUND
Meanwhile, Minister Paris stated that in the Executive “we believe in the separation of powers, and they have the right to request the information they deem necessary. “
In that sense, he insisted that, “as I have repeated several times, we are willing to deliver the necessary background information for the investigation, and obviously we have expressed our opinion on different occasions. “
On the other hand, he assured that he had not had contact with the head of Sanitary Planning of the Minsal, Johanna Acevedo, who in her statement before the Prosecutor’s Office maintained that the number of people infected by Covid-19 was adjusted by order of the now former minister Mañalich, similar words to those of the former epidemiologist of the Ministry, Andrea Albagli.
“I have not spoken with Joanna; she must declare what she deems pertinent”said Paris tersely.
