The Argentine judiciary has cleared most of the crew of a Venezuelan cargo plane that had been detained in the country for three months, amid an investigation by the authorities into links to Iranian revolutionaries by one of its crew members. Guards.
It was reported that the Court of Appeal of La Plata upheld the ruling issued by the court of first instance in August to reverse the decision to prevent the departure of 12 of the 19 crew members from the country. This decision concerns 11 Venezuelans and one Iranian, but the latter decision can be appealed to the Higher Regional Court.
In addition, the seven crew members, four Iranians and three Venezuelans, are still prohibited from leaving Argentina, although they can move freely within it.
In an accelerated development of the case, the La Plata Court of Appeal gave the judge ten days to “complete the pending procedures and determine the procedural conditions and restrictions imposed on people and property,” according to the text of the ruling published by the official Argentine news agency Telam.
It is noteworthy that the Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane, owned by Amstrassur, a subsidiary of the state-owned company Conviasa, which is subject to US sanctions, has been parked in Argentina since early June last year.
This plane arrived from Mexico with car parts, and its crew members were not allowed to leave the country while the judiciary is looking into their personal files, including their possible connection with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which the US considers a “terrorist organization.” “
The crew of the Venezuelan cargo plane has since stayed at a hotel near Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires, and their phones, computers and tablets have been confiscated during a search of the hotel.
According to Tehran, the plane was formerly owned by Iran’s Mahan Air before being sold over a year ago. Washington accuses this Iranian airline of providing material support to the al-Quds detachment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
In August, the United States asked Argentina to confiscate the aircraft, which they did, alleging that it was sold to a Venezuelan company by an Iranian company in 2021 in violation of sanctions imposed on the two entities.
Caracas protested the hijacking of the aircraft and demanded, like Tehran, an immediate evacuation so that the crew would not leave Argentina, with Iran confirming that the aircraft’s status was “legal” and its hijacking was a “propaganda operation” related to tensions between the West and Iran from – for its nuclear program.
Source: AFP.