Judges have ruled that a man who hid in the forest for 22 years after being convicted of murdering his wife in Argentina should be released.
Ramon Angel Abregu, now 70 years old, had escaped from a prison van in 2001 after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting his estranged pregnant wife.
He returned from the rainforest where he took refuge last year and turned himself in – and now the court has decided to let him walk because his ‘statute of limitations is running out’.
Abregu appeared in the same courtroom where he was convicted in 2001 and claimed immunity from remand to serve his sentence.
His lawyer, Alejandro De la Riva, confirmed: “The statute of limitations is twenty years, the period during which he managed to remain a fugitive in hiding.”
Ramon Angel Abregú, now 70, escaped from prison months after being jailed for 20 years for shooting his wife Eva Falcón in January 2000 in the city of Río Grande at Argentina’s southern tip.
He said his client had already served his sentence because “being a fugitive is the same as serving a prison sentence.”
And now the judge of Tierra del Fuego confirmed his freedom by declaring the case to be time-barred on February 27.
The decision was made by the Rio Grande Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal, but must still be ratified by Argentina’s Supreme Court before Abregu can be released.
Police and prosecutors are now holding him in custody while they figure out whether he can legally be sent back to prison or released.
Abregu had been hiding in the rainforests of Salteno Chaco, in Argentina’s wild north, home to pumas, deer and vampire bats.
The murder took place in January 2000 in the city of Río Grande, in the southernmost tip of Argentina.
On the day of the attack, local news sources report that Abregú Falcón – who was seven months pregnant – attacked at her home with a 9-millimeter caliber pistol.
Wounded, Falcón reportedly managed to escape and took refuge in the waiting room of the Cemep clinic, where Abregú caught up with her and killed her with four more shots.
In February the following year, Abregú reportedly escaped from a Margen Sur prison, hiding in a truck en route to Chile.
All these years, Abregú remained hidden in the jungle, in the Chaco Salteño, and on Wednesday he managed to re-enter the province of Tierra del Fuego without being noticed by any authorities, the Argentine newspaper said. Clarin.
Abregú remained hidden in the jungle, in the Chaco Salteño, and managed to reenter the Tierra del Fuego province on Wednesday without being spotted by any authorities, according to the Argentine newspaper Clarín.
Pictured: The clinic where Ramon Angel Abregu, 70, killed his pregnant wife Eva Falcón in January 2000 in Rio Grande, Argentina
They said he appeared in court to request the statute of limitations in the case, while his lawyer, Alejandro De la Riva, revealed that Abregú had “secretly” and without documents crossed two Argentine and two Chilean border crossings.
‘The statute of limitations is twenty years, the time during which he managed to remain a fugitive in hiding. He served his sentence that way,” De la Riva reportedly explained to the Fuegian media.
But the process may not be that simple and some legal issues surrounding what happened still need to be resolved, sources from the intervening prosecutor’s office told Clarín.
“The precepts of the international law treaties adopted by the country govern and can be applied to deny the freedom of this person,” they said.
Despite having one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, the Chaco Salteño is an important agricultural area with more than six million hectares of forest.
It is home to significant ethnic and cultural diversity, including small-scale pastoralists and indigenous peoples.