Leandro Ginobili testified before the court about the tragedy in Bahiense del Norte that left 13 people dead

Leandro GinobiliBrother of the former basketball player Emanuel Ginobili, testified this Wednesday before the judiciary in connection with the case in which he is found accused of the tragedy of the Bahiense del Norte clubin which 13 people died during the fortress temporarily admitted to Bahía Blanca in December 2023.

According to media from the city of Buenos Aires, Ginobili suspended for four hours before the head of UFIJ No. 1, prosecutor Cristian Aguilar, and “answered all the questions in detail and spontaneously,” commented his lawyer Sebastián Cuevas in statements to local media.

Specifically, that’s how it is The crime is that of negligent destruction resulting in deathdue to his role as the institution’s top leader.

At the time of the incident, the 55-year-old was president of the Bahia institution According to prosecutors, he ignored the two orange weather warnings from the National Meteorological Service, in addition to a municipal warning that should have stopped the activities.

“It has to do with the impossibility of predicting a climatic event of the magnitude that occurred and also with the impossibility of avoiding it, even without the alleged completion of the authorization process,” Cuevas argued.

He said that too They had received no warning In this context, he pointed out against municipal regulations realized that the club did not have a permitclarified that he was not aware that the club was unable to conduct its business.

“It is an extreme that we will not deny, it is a factual and undeniable matter. The association did not have a permit, it was in the approval process. What we claim is that the municipality made three requirements: the submission of a plan signed by a professional, which was then submitted to the municipality, a final version of the fire service, which still needs to be finalized and presented, and a power line network,” he explained.

In this sense, the lawyer added: “We emphasize that.” The construction question had no observation whatsoever“Neither on the part of the professional that the club has hired, nor on the part of the community with which this process would follow its normal path, and especially on this point there would necessarily be no observations and it would end up being made possible.”

“The lack of authorization does not mean that the result would be avoided, that is our position. The (municipal) regulation has nothing to do with activities that serve commercial or lucrative purposes, but beyond that.” There was no communication from the community to stop activities. And the club’s activities are public and notorious, it has existed before, and even actions have been carried out by officials of various political parties. At no point has (the municipality) called for termination or closure,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, according to the same sources, Ginobili referred to another defendant, the engineer Pablo Ascolani, who was responsible for the 2014 and 2016 building surveys that confirmed the condition of the building, explaining that his job was to certify the number of meters built, but not the safety of the club’s facilities.

Laura Fabiana Soberón, former head of the municipality’s qualifications area, is also charged in the case with failure to perform the duties of a public servant.

The storm that hit the city of Buenos Aires in December 2023 moved on 13 deaths due to roof collapse of the Bahiense del Norte club, who fell at the start of a skate tournament.

In addition, nearly twenty injured people required hospitalization, and then and current mayor Federico Susbielles (also with basketball executive experience) stated that the storm was “devastating and had painful consequences.”

The city was hit by strong winds of more than 140 km/h and rainfall that caused roofs to burst, trees and poles to fall and power to be cut off.

The strong storms also hit other nearby cities and southern Buenos Aires province.