Overview
- Buenos Aires’s Federal Chamber (Sala II) upheld the dismissal by a 2–1 vote, with judges Martín Irurzun and Eduardo Farah in the majority and Roberto Boico dissenting.
- The majority deemed the corridor exchange after the March 1, 2025 congressional session a heated political confrontation that did not meet the statutory elements of a criminal threat.
- Farah emphasized that a victim’s subjective fear cannot alone sustain a threats charge, while the ruling cited the legal requirement of an announced, imminent and serious harm.
- Boico argued the investigation was incomplete and urged further steps, including additional witness testimony, before deciding on dismissal.
- The case stemmed from Facundo Manes’s complaint alleging Caputo made menacing remarks and touched his face after President Javier Milei’s speech, an episode partly captured on photos and security videos, and follows Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti’s earlier dismissal aligned with prosecutors Ramiro González and José Luis Agüero Iturbe.