Justice revoked the conviction against Luis Chocobar, the police officer who killed a thief in La Boca

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Justice revoked the conviction against Buenos Aires police officer Luis Oscar Chocobar, who was tried for having killed Juan Pablo Kukoc, an 18-year-old thief who had attacked a tourist in the La Boca neighborhood in 2017.

The ruling was handed down by Chamber II of the National Chamber of Cassation in Criminal and Correctional Matters of Buenos Aires.

News: Chamber II of the National Cassation annulled the oral trial against Chocobar! Order a new oral trial. I’m reading the ruling right now. Law!! pic.twitter.com/PpaSNGUOKc

— Fernando Soto (@Doctor_Soto) May 6, 2024

The Chocobar case, which had great national impact, was the axis of the debate about what the limits are in the actions of the police forces.

Minister Patricia Bullrich, who spoke from the beginning along with then-president Mauricio Macri in favor of the officer, took him as an example when launching in March the new regulations for the use of firearms that give more freedom to federal forces to shoot in case of danger.

This Monday, the Minister of Security of the city of Buenos Aires, Waldo Wolff, was one of the first figures to speak out on the case. “A few years have passed since that photo in which we accompanied Luis Chocobar on the day of an unjust sentence,” the official began, on X (formerly Twitter)

“What does not change is the unconditional support for the police officers who do their job well,” he stated and added: “I deeply celebrate the change in the case. He shot down a thief. He was the victim and justice was done today.”

A few years have passed since that photo in which we accompanied Luis Chocobar on the day of an unjust sentence.

What does not change is the unconditional support for police officers who do their job well.

I deeply celebrate the change in the cause. He shot down a thief. He was the victim and… pic.twitter.com/2gmpyNMlPs

— Waldo Wolff (@WolffWaldo) May 6, 2024

The Chocobar case

The assault on American tourist Frank Wolek (57) occurred on December 8, 2017 a few meters from Caminito, in La Boca, where the victim was walking on foot with his camera and was intercepted and stabbed for the purpose of robbery by two criminals. , one of them a minor and the other Kukoc, 18.

After the attack, both assailants ran, but while one managed to escape, Kukoc was intercepted three blocks away by two passersby who had seen the attack.

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Joe Wolek, the tourist saved by Chocobar: “I am disappointed by the ruling”

Moments later, Chocobar, a member of the Avellaneda Local Police, arrived at the scene, who identified himself and, as he later stated, asked him to stop, after which he fired shots, two of which hit Kukoc in the left thigh and the deadly, in the lower back area.

Kukoc died due to the severity of his injuries, while the other assailant was detained.

Chocobar before entering courts, in 2021. (Télam)

For his part, Chocobar was also detained, although he was released days later and had the support of the government. At that time, he was received at the Casa Rosada by the then president Mauricio Macri.

In January 2018, criminal judge Luis Alberto Velázquez prosecuted the man for “homicide aggravated by the use of a weapon and in excess of legitimate defense” and placed a seizure of 400,000 pesos on his assets.

Then, in May 2021, Justice sentenced Chocobar to two years of suspended prison, in a ruling in which the judges understood that there was an “excess in the performance of duty.”

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For the judges, Chocobar’s shot was “disproportionate” and the assailant was not “dangerous to anyone.”

The decision was adopted by the Oral Court for Minors (TOM) 2, which also ordered Chocobar a special disqualification for five years from performing operational functions with the use of firearms.

In the ruling, the court also sentenced Kukoc’s accomplice to 9 years in prison as a co-author of the crime of “robbery qualified by the use of weapons, in actual competition with qualified homicide” in the degree of attempt, to the detriment of the tourist Wolek.

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