Twelve Crew Members of the EMTRASUR 747 Permitted to leave Argentina

The EMTRASUR president welcomed the decision to release the crew members held in Argentina.

This Tuesday, the La Plata Federal Court of Appeals authorized 12 of the 19 EMTRASUR crew members, kidnapped in Ezeiza for almost three months, to leave Argentina.

According to local media, the document was signed by Judge Federico Villena, from Lomas de Zamora, on August 1 before being appealed and elevated to La Plata.

ALBA-TCP Demands Return of EMTRASUR Plane & Crew

The legal resolution also has the signatures of judges Carlos A. Vallefín and Roberto Lemos Arias, who ordered Judge Villena, the judge in charge of the case, to accelerate and conclude “all pending proceedings, the definition of the procedural situation and of restrictions imposed on the people and the things.”

With this decision, seven of the plane’s crew members remain in Argentina.

Among those who do not yet have the right to leave the country are the Iranian citizens Gholamreza Ghasemi, Abdolbaset Mohammadi, Mohammad Khosraviaragh and Saeid Vali Zadeh, and the Venezuelan citizens Víctor Pérez Gómez, Mario Arraga Urdaneta and José Garcia Contreras.

During the reading of the resolution, the court explained that neither Venezuela nor Iran “are part of the investigation.”

According to local media, “it is the decision of the first instance judge”, who is in charge of determining whether or not there was illegal activity.

Decision of the Argentinian court is “progress”
César Pérez, president of EMSTRASUR described the Chamber’s decision to release the first 12 crew members held illegally in the country as “progress.”

“We are happy; it is not the ultimate goal, but the release of the first 12 crew members who are illegally and arbitrarily in the Republic of Argentina is important progress. We are waiting for the return of the first 12,” expressed Pérez in statements to TeleSur.

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Demands Release of EMTRASUR Plane & Crew

“We have high hopes,” he added, “the lawyers tell us, that in the short term, the rest of the crew should be returning.”

#ÚltimoMinuto| el Presidente de #EMTRASUR manifestó su alegría por la liberación de los primeros 12 tripulantes del avión “estamos muy contentos, ahora nos faltan los otros 7 tripulantes que en los próximos días esperamos tenerlos aquí y también el avión” 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/cZxsZuMhiT

— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) September 13, 2022

The EMTRASUR boss affirmed that work is continuing to order the release of the aircraft.

Similarly, the Venezuelan Association of Jurists welcomed the decision of the La Plata Federal Court of Appeals to lift the restrictions that the 12 kidnapped crew members faced in leaving Argentina.

La AVJ saluda la decisión de la Cámara Federal de Apelaciones de La Plata sobre el levantamiento de la prohibición de salida del territorio argentino de los 11 venezolanos y un iraní que conforman la tripulación del avión de #Emtrasur #ULTIMAHORA #ATENCION #Venezuela #Argentina pic.twitter.com/t74fXn1hBN

— Asociación Venezolana de Juristas (@juristasvzla) September 13, 2022