The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) canceled the AI No. 102 and AI No. 107 of the Court of Criminal Appealthrough which the prescription in relation to the mediated production of public documents with false content and the use of themconsequently the definitive dismissal of the Colorado Chartist senator Hernán David Rivas Románin the case related to the alleged falsification of his law degree and registration. This through his Interlocutory Order (AI) No. 133 of the highest judicial authority.
The Criminal Chamber that analyzed the extraordinary appeal of cassation of the prosecutors Patricia Sánchez and Luz Guerrerowas made up of the ministers Luis María Benitez Riera and Carolina Llanesand the waiter Arnaldo Fleitaswho entered due to the inhibition of the minister Manuel Ramírez Candiawho agreed with Rivas in the Jury of Prosecution of Magistrates (JEM) in 2023.
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In this sense, the highest court revoked the point: “I- MAKE PLACE, for the Incident of PRESCRIPTION OF PUNISHABLE ACTS in relation to the factual portions subsumed in the criminal type of MEDIA PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENT WITH FALSE CONTENT raised by the technical defense of the accused, in accordance with the above and with the scope of the exordium of this resolution.
The Court also revoked point “II- DECLARE THE PRESCRIPTION OPERATED in relation to the factual portions subsumed in the pernal type of MEDIA PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENT WITH FALSE CONTENT of the foundations set forth in the exordium of this resolution” and point “III- DEFINITELY OVERSEE to the processed HERNAN DAVID RIVAS ROMAN in relation to the factual portions subsumed in the criminal type of MEDIA PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENT WITH FALSE CONTENT”, all corresponding to the AI No. 850 dictated by the criminal judge of guarantees Miguel Palacios.
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Facts accused of Hernán Rivas by the Prosecutor’s Office must be discussed in trial, says the Court
The members of the Criminal Chamber highlighted that in “a comparison between the accusation and the order opening the trial: The facts submitted to oral and public trial are the same factual portions presented in the accusationTherefore, the same factual portions on which the preliminary hearing dealt, and on which the parties were able to offer evidence.”
In this regard, they described this agreement as “fundamental, since the case is already in the oral and public trial stage on the same factual portions accused.”
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“The Criminal Court of Guarantees did not order the opening of an oral and public trial based on the prescription due to the classification of ‘mediate production of public documents with false content’However, this statute of limitations was wrongly stated”, at the discretion of the members of the Criminal Chamber.
However, “it can be determined What is the optimal legal solution in this case?Therefore, it is not possible to split the process when the factual portions to be debated are the same, since there is a risk of falling into the vice non bis in idem (not twice for the same thing).”
They added that “during the criminal process the defendant defends himself with facts, not with legal qualifications, therefore, if the facts on which the opening of the oral and public trial revolved are exactly the same as those of the accusation, and on which the preliminary hearing was held, then, There is no obstacle to the holding of the oral and public trial based on the facts already being opened for trial., but, also taking into account the legal classification of ‘mediate production of public documents with false content‘”.
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Therefore, after their analysis of the case file, the members of the Chamber indicated that “if different legal qualifications arise regarding the same facts, only at the stage of the oral and public trial can they be introduced into the debate with due warning to the defendant.”
But “in the present case, There is no obstacle or impact on the rights of the accused if the debate on the same facts is carried out, including the qualification of ‘Mediated production of public documents with false content’.already known from the beginning of the process, and on which the preliminary hearing even revolved and which was excluded from the debate, erroneously by the Criminal Guarantees Judge”.
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Rolón minimized the threat to the prosecutor and ruled out opening a case
Prosecutor Patricia Sánchez sent a letter to the State Attorney General, Emiliano Rolón, informing him that on March 30, 2026, after presenting her cassation, she received a verbal communication from a person, about whom she requested protection of her identity due to being in a state of vulnerability and risk.
The communication from Prosecutor Sánchez was made on March 31 and as stated in the document, Senator Hernán Rivas told this person to let the Public Ministry agent know that if she filed an appeal against the resolution of the Chamber in the criminal case of interest to her, the legislator would ensure that she was removed from office.
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Initially, the attorney general, Emiliano Rolón, had hidden the identity of the person who, according to the affected prosecutor herself, had threatened her own investigating officer. Only when the fact and the writing became public did the prosecutor – reluctantly – admit that this warning had come from Senator Rivas.
On April 23, when Hernán Rivas’ permission in the Senate was under discussion, Emiliano Rolón had minimized the threat against his prosecutor by taking it as a simple rumor.
“In popular jargon it would be He’i lo mitã (people say), which is enough to initiate prevention, but not for a criminal investigation. That information was just an initial rumor that did not yet have the strength for an investigation,” Rolón had said after being consulted by the press.
Likewise, the head of the Public Ministry had stated that “in the line of the Public Ministry, integrity means placing oneself in the middle and evaluating the information based on evidence,” and then claiming that this information “was just an initial rumor that did not yet have the strength to serve for an investigation.”
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However, if a criminal investigation is not opened regarding the case, taking into account that the alleged origin of the threat is a senator of the Nation, there will be no evidence of what the means of threat was and the supposed person responsible.
