Case 81/89 Cavazza, Juan C. and others

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Background

On December 19, 1990, Arturo Odilo Godoy, acting on behalf of his sister-in-law Ruth Frouman, filed a complaint with the Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes under Judge Julio M. Cámpora seeking the return of four of her five minor children who had been retained in the cult against the wishes of both of their parents. On May 21, 1991, Judge Cámpora ordered that the four missing children be presented to the court. Cámpora later appointed police investigators and experts who began an investigation of The Family that included surveillance of Family homes, a review of prior legal cases in which its members had been involved, its activities in the country, its literature and publications and testimony by many witnesses (some of whom traveled to Argentina to give declarations to officers of the court). In April 1993, Claire Borowik and Stuart Baylin partially complied with the Court's May 1991 order by presenting only the two older children who were soon reunited with their father and other relatives in the United States. On June 28, 1993, Judge Campora issued an order in which he requested the intervention of a federal court to act upon matters beyond his jurisdiction and inferred the existence of the following crimes: sexual abuse, hiding of minors, fraud, reduction to a state of servitude, and falsification of documents and without prejudice to definitive jurisdiction transferred the entire record (consisting of 8 volumes, more than 1600 pages) to Federal Judge Roberto J. Marquevich in San Isidro.[1]. Judge Marquevich then reopened a 1989 case (Causa No. 81 Juzgado Federal No. 1 de San Isidro).

On September 1, 1993, 10 Family homes in Buenos Aires were raided by police. Approximately 142 children were taken into protective custody and more than 80 adults were arrested. On September 9, 1993, Federal Judge Roberto J. Marquevich ordered the preventive detention of 18 adults already in custody and later added 3 additional persons to the list of those charged and held under the preventive detention order, bringing the total number to 21. The 21 charged were Juan Carlos Cavazza, Eduardo Jose Blanco Diaz, Lorenzo Montes Garcia, Jesse Jude Mara, Joel Steven Martin, Daniel Martial Charrie, Jurgan Heinz Grotnaus, Kay Susanne Rambur, Daniel Armando Moreno, Mark Steven Jacobs, Robert Eldrich Robb, Roberto Martinetto, Rafael Martinez Gonzalez, Susana Clara Borowik, Alejandro Emilio Trevisan, Nilson Alcides Gomez, Jackeline Reddic, John Kevin Roberts, Flor Bojorquez, Mario Roberto Torres and Alice Sophia Dow. The preliminary charges included corruption of minors, reduction to a state of servitude, illegal deprivation of liberty, retention and hiding of persons, illicit association and infraction of the law against racial and religious discrimination. Rambur and Robb were also charged with altering the civil status of a minor under 10 years old and falsification of documents. On December 13, 1993, by a 2-1 vote, the San Martin Court of Appeals issued a ruling favorable to the 21 defendants. The majority ruled that Judge Marquevich did not have jurisdiction over the case. San Martin Appeals Court Judge Dr. Daniel Mario Rudi strongly disagreed with the majority in his 135-page dissenting opinion which quoted extensively from Family publications. The 21 charged were freed and the case was sent back to a lower court for further investigation.

San Isidro Case History and Filings

The records of this case include thousands of pages. Some assistance is required to obtain these documents. They will be placed here as they become available. All documents are in Spanish unless otherwise noted.

Note: Some information in this document or in documents listed below (labeled as [REDACTED]) has been redacted by a third party such as a government agency, court officer or other outside source. Some of these redactions may have been made to protect individual privacy or for other reasons. These redactions were not requested by xFamily.org and are not under our control. Whenever possible, our goal is to present and archive complete and unredacted documents.

• Order of Judge Campora - 1993-06-28 ( PDF 8 pages, 2.9MB) — 1993-06-28 – Judge Campora requests the intervention of Federal Judge Roberto Marquevich.
• Declaration of Abigail Berry (including P1831-1858) [taken in Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes - Cause number 32.202] — 1993-07-26 (61 pages, 20.1M)
• Declaration of Richard Dupuy - P904-907 — 1993-07-27 (8 pages, 1.7M)
• Declaration of Miriam Padilla - P908-910 — 1993-07-27 (6 pages, 1.8M)
• Declaration of Abigail Berry - P911-913 — 1993-07-27 (5 pages, 1.4M)
• Declaration of Edward Priebe - P914-918 — 1993-07-27 (9 pages, 2M)
• Order by Judge Marquevich — 1993-09-09 [REDACTED] – (17 pages, 2.3MB)

Appeals

There were numerous appeals filed by the defendants and the federal prosecutors.

San Martin Court of Appeals

• Substituye Informe In Voce — 1993 [REDACTED] – Appellate brief by Federal prosecutor Pablo Hernan Quiroga (99 pages, 9MB)
• Majority opinion of Federal Judges Horacio Enrique Prack and Alberto Mansur — 1993-12-13 (127 pages, 280KB)
• Dissent of Federal Judge Daniel Mario Rudi — 1993-12-13 (135 pages [missing page 29], 3.12MB)

Supreme Court

Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación Argentina

Documents

• C. 489. XXVII. Recurso de Hecho. Causa No. 583. Argentina Supreme Court. June 29, 1995. 2 page PDF file. In Spanish.
• S.C. Comp. 91 L.XXXII. Argentina Supreme Court. July 19, 1996 and October 10, 1996. 3 page PDF file. In Spanish.

Case 91/1996 History

Nº Expediente: 91/1996 Tomo: 32 Letra: C Tipo: COM Ingreso: 01-03-1996
Actor: CAVAZZA JUAN CARLOS Y OTROS
Objeto: INFRACCION A LOS ARTS. 125 Y OTROS DEL C.P.
Iniciado por: Secretaría: 03
Nº Expte. Proc.: 81/1989
Originado por: JUZGADO FEDERAL N°1 DE SAN ISIDRO SECRET. N°2
Último receptor: JUZGADO EN LO CRIM.Y CORREC. N°3 DEL DTO.JUD.DE SAN ISIDRO-BS.AS.
Fecha: 28-11-1996
Último Estado: DEV - DEVOLUCION Fecha: 28-11-1996

• 01-03-1996 CONFLICTO CON EL JUZ. EN LO CRIM.Y CORREC. N°3 DEL DEPTO. DE SAN ISIDRO, SECRETARIA JUDICIAL NRO. 3 DE LA CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA
• 05-03-1996 MESA DE ENTRADAS DE LA CORTE SUPREMA EN RAZON DE QUE FUE LA CAMARA FEDERAL DE APELAC.DESAN MARTIN -BS.AS.-LA QUE RESOLVIO DECL.LA INCOMP. DEL JUZG.FEDERAL N°1 DE SAN ISIDRO, REMITANSE LAS PRESENTES ACTUACIONES A DICHO TRIBUNAL DE ALZADA, A SUS EFECTOS. SE REMITE COMO ATENTA NOTA.
• 06-03-1996 SE REMITEN AUTOS (1PZA) CAMARA FEDERAL DE SAN MARTIN - ENC 981998
• 18-04-1996 SECRETARIA JUDICIAL NRO. 3 DE LA CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA VUELVEN AUTOS (1PZA) - MANTIENE SU INCOMPETENCIA.
• 22-04-1996 PROCURACION GENERAL DE LA NACION A DIC PROCURACION GENERAL
• 23-04-1996 EPG ENTRADA P.G.N. A DICTAMEN - ENT.PROC.
• 19-07-1996 DPG FIRMA DICTAMEN PROC.GRAL. - DIC.PROC.
• 22-07-1996 CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA DE LA NACION 0
• 05-08-1996 SECRETARIA JUDICIAL NRO. 3 DE LA CORTE SUPREMA DE JUSTICIA A SENTENCIA CON DICTAMEN
• 10-10-1996 FAL FALLO DEFINITIVO - JUZ.CRIM.Y CORR.N°3 DTO.JUD.DE SAN ISIDRO.
• 14-10-1996 UJIERIA DE LA CORTE
• 15-10-1996 PROCURACION GENERAL DE LA NACION SE GIRA ESCRITO SOLICITA CERTIFICADO.- ENTRADA PGN-NOTIFICACION - ENT.PROC.
• 16-10-1996 COMO SE PIDE. EN LA FECHA EL INTERESADO RETIRO FOTOCOP.DE LA RESOLUCION, EN LUGAR DEL CERTIF., DEJANDO CONSTANCIA EN AUTOS. AGENDA - QUEDA EN M.E. ESCRITO Y PROVEIDO PARA AGENDA - AGREGAR A LA CAUSA.
• 01-11-1996 SAL.PROC.
• 04-11-1996 MESA DE ENTRADAS DE LA CORTE SUPREMA - MESA DE ENTRADAS CORTE SUPREMA - MESA DE COMPAGINACION 1
• 13-11-1996 MESA DE ENTRADAS DE LA CORTE SUPREMA
• 28-11-1996 JUZGADO EN LO CRIM.Y CORREC. N°3 DEL DTO.JUD.DE SAN ISIDRO-BS.AS.
• 28-11-1996 DEV DEVOLUCION - ENC 008925320