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ARA San Juan Plaintiffs Accuse Navy of Cover-Up, Move to Seek Perjury Charges

New filings cite shipyard images alongside past audits to challenge accounts of key equipment failures.

Overview

  • The families' legal team, which escalated its claims over the weekend, said it will ask the Río Gallegos court this week to prosecute witnesses for perjury.
  • The plaintiffs accuse the Argentine Navy of a corporate culture that blocks the truth in the trial over the submarine that sank in 2017 with 44 crew members.
  • They disputed testimony that soda lime canisters used to scrub carbon dioxide do not expire, citing Navy audits and 2018 congressional data that found most filters were past their shelf life.
  • To rebut a claim that valve Eco 19 could open if someone leaned on it, they filed Tandanor inspection photos showing a wheel that needs several turns to operate rather than a simple handle.
  • The lawyers say some testimony tries to frame the disaster as an accidental human error, and they expect four relatives to testify next with materials left before sailing that could challenge officers' claimed lapses in memory.