As we saw coming, the history of the cell phone Gerardo Milman It is far from concluding and clarifying whether he had any relationship with the attack on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. An official letter from the «Buenos Aires» Complex Crimes and Judicial Procedures Investigation Squad of National Gendarmeriearrived last Friday at María Eugenia Capuchetti’s court with the news that With the technology available to specialists, they cannot extract the contents of the device. The Airport Security Police (PSA), which usually has the most advanced instruments for this type of expert reports, had already reported that it could not access the information on the phone of one of the collaborators of the deputy of Together for Change (Carolina Gómez Mónaco), which is exactly the same model as that of his boss. It is an iPhone 14 Pro Max that – as the CFK complaint noted – went on the market after September 1, the day of the assassination attempt. Now the court asked Milman’s defense if he is willing to reveal the key to the device.
A trap
The iPhone in question is kept in the safe at María Eugenia Capuchetti’s court. She had refused to kidnap her, at the first request of prosecutor Carlos Rívolo in May. But then they ordered both the Federal Chamber and the Federal Chamber of Criminal Cassation to analyze it. Between both decisions, Milman handed over the cell phone to the court with the argument that it would be kept safe and as a gesture of alleged collaboration. The Chamber of Deputies even voted to authorize it to be analyzed. Given the time that had passed, it was difficult to imagine that it could contain anything relevant to the cause. CFK’s lawyers, Marcos Aldazabal and José Manuel Ubeira, showed Not only did the model enter the market after the attack, but Milman did not use it until after mid-November. from last year. When the magistrate had no choice but to arrange for it to be opened, she asked the Gendarmerie if she could do the job and the answer was the one that was almost a given.
The letter from that force is signed by Second Commander David Coca Alba, from the Criminalistics and Forensic Studies Group of the Investigation Squad to which the judge had addressed. He says that this agency «does not have the forensic tool (UFED)» «for this type of expertise.» For this reason, he clarifies, he consulted the Mobile Telephony Division, which would be appropriate for the case, and the response was: «the particular mobile device model (iPhone 14 Pro Max) is not compatible with the UFED Premium Cellebrite tool (version 7.66. 0.139), meaning that it is not supported». «For this reason,» he added, it is not possible to unlock it and access the information contained in the digital evidence«. This Tuesday Coca Alba went to give his testimony to the court and explained that «the current version of the UFED Premium Cellebrite system that we have in the Gendarmerie, is the latest version that the company currently has available on the market» and «at the moment it arrives up to the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but hot, that is, it has never been turned off and has a manual user unlock.»
If Milman does not provide the key, there does not seem to be any alternatives. Gómez Mónaco did not reveal it. She is one of the collaborators who were with the deputy in the Casablanca bar from the corner of Congress, two days before the assassination attempt, where a witness heard him say «when they kill her I’m on my way to the coast.» The other advisor present was Ivana Bohdziewicz. She testified last May that her partner had taken her to an office of Patricia Bullrich where Milman – who was her campaign manager – and an expert were waiting, so that it could delete what was on the device. He said he also «tampered» with the deputy’s. They sent Gómez Mónaco to buy a new iPhone, she said, and change her password. It was November.
The other cell phones
Milman’s defender, Manuel Barros – the gendarmes’ historical lawyer – had reported in court that his client has three more lines, at least two of them in use. Given this news, the complaint and the prosecutor’s office also claimed for those phones, which generated a new round of discussions that must now be resolved by the Room I of the Federal Chamber. It is possible that if you order the opening of these devices, you will also have to request authorization from the Chamber of Deputies again. The chambermaids must also decide whether to admit the analysis of the result and another key measure that Rívolo had requested: that the telephone providers report the «IMEI traffic». The IMEI is a code that identifies each device. The companies provide it along with the information that shows what other phones the one being analyzed communicates with. (calls and SMS). Capuchetti also kept that substantial information in the safe and prevented the parties from analyzing it. These are data that can provide relevant clues.
The use of cell phones as evidence in this case was problematic from the beginning, when that of the main accused was damaged, Fernando Sabag Montiel, the man who tried to shoot the vice president but missed. The Federal Police failed to extract information that he did in court in the early morning hours after the attack. The next night, Capuchetti sent the agent guarding his office to the PSA headquarters in Ezeiza. The chain of custody envelope arrived open, the cell phone was on, and when they tried to connect it to the UFED, a sign appeared showing that it was factory reset. Only SIM and memory cards could be analyzed. Sabag Montiel, his then-girlfriend Brenda Uliarte and Gabriel Carrizo (who managed the sale of sugar flakes in which the couple participated) are in prison and their accusation was brought to trial, without political or financial connections.
The «Milman trail» was left out of the oral trial in the first instance, and is marked by delays and problems with cell phones which, as can be seen, persist to this day despite the fact that several clues could lead to Milman: not only the witness’s account, but his projects where announced an attack against CFK fifteen days before it occurred and a document presented by Uliarte which says there would be paid to people so that it would generate violence near the vice president’s house .