The court again denied the release of the police officer accused of femicide in Bariloche

The court again denied the release of the police officer accused of femicide in Bariloche

The crime occurred in July 2025, and the defense requested their release because "there are no procedural risks." The reviewing judge rejected this request, and the expectation of a life sentence weighed heavily in the decision.

Police officer Emerson Marín is accused of murdering his partner in a house in the Lera neighborhood of Bariloche and will have to wait in preventive detention while the investigation of the fact is completed, after a review judge today rejected a request made by his defense to grant him freedom or, failing that, house arrest in Villa Regina.

Defense attorney Diego Navarro appealed Judge César Lanfranchi's ruling, which had already rejected the same argument. He stated that the precautionary measure had recently been renewed for the second time and that the continued "procedural risks" of flight and obstruction of the investigation had not been proven.

According to Navarro, there must be a “concrete danger” in that regard. But the reviewing judge, Martín Arroyo, followed the prosecution's line, noting that the charge is for “femicide” and considered that the “expectation of sentence,” which allows no possibility other than life imprisonment , is sufficient to presume the defendant's “intent to flee.”

The court also assessed Marín's "lack of ties to the community ," noting that he had "itinerant" work while serving as a police officer. His lawyer offered an aunt's address in Villa Regina as a permanent residence, but it was not considered.

The police officer has been in jail since July 30 and is accused of killing Estefanía Civardi with a gunshot to the neck, using his service weapon.

The defense attorney also argued that procedural guarantees were being violated because his client was being treated as a police officer under the "author's criminal law" principle. He complained that his client should be held in pretrial detention for the delays in the investigation , related to ballistic and handwriting analysis that are still pending. "Some of these tests haven't even been requested yet," he stated at the hearing, a claim refuted by prosecutor Martín Lozada.
According to the representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the life sentence that Marín would receive for the femicide should be considered an incentive for a possible escape , and he stated that, as in the initial stages of the investigation, "the danger posed by the defendant's release remains ." "There is no less impactful protective measure that would be effective," he argued.

He maintained that the handwriting analysis was delayed because the court's long-time expert in that field recently resigned, but that this shortage has now been resolved. Regarding the pending ballistics analysis, he also noted that the responsible department is very busy. "Unfortunately, there are shifts, and we don't have a specific day or time available," Lozada said.

The prosecutor rejected the "disgraceful" suggestion that Marín should be charged under "author's criminal law ." He said that "there is no basis whatsoever for any professional, racial, or religious considerations" that would aggravate his legal situation.

But he did consider that, due to his police role, he "knows the mechanisms for detecting and neutralizing people," and that several witnesses are his "comrades," which means "it is possible to foresee a degree of solidarity within the force and emotional closeness."

Judge Arroyo upheld Marín's pretrial detention but warned that no further extensions would be granted. He stated that "the prosecution must request the necessary priority" to complete the expert analyses because "the law stipulates that once these four months (of the second extension) have elapsed, the case must be dismissed."