7 41. As a result of the business dealings with these burial vaults in the municipal cemetery, Mr. Carlos Memoli lodged a criminal complaint for alleged fraud with the Sectional Office of the Police of San Andres de Giles against Messrs. Antonio Guarracino, Humberto Romanello and Juan Bautista Ricardo Piriz, because according to Mr. Carlos Memoli, the sale of the burial vaults was allegedly being carried out with the promise of handing over the notarized title to the purchaser; and he claims, however, that this was never done. This complaint gave rise to Case No. 73679 before what was at the time the 8 First Court for Criminal Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes. In a ruling on June 6, 1990, said court found that the crime charged in the complaint had not been committed and ordered the dismissal 9 without prejudice. The judge found that the conduct did not constitute the crime of fraud, noting that there 10 was an error committed by the defendants, but no intentional deception was involved. 42. Messrs. Antonio Guarracino, Humberto Romanello and Juan Bautista R. Piriz brought a private criminal action for damages (querella penal) for calumny (calumnia) and slander (injuria) against Carlos Memoli and his son, Pablo Memoli. The basis for said legal action is the content of newspaper articles published in the newspaper La Libertad, of which Pablo Memoli was the managing editor, and the content of the statements made by the defendants on the radio program Radio Vall, on two separate occasions, as well as language used by the Memolis at the Argentine Institute of Mutual Benefit Associations (INAM) in the context of an administrative complaint regarding the same acts which were the 11 subject of their criminal charges. 43. The newspaper articles and the radio statements basically were about the alleged mismanagement of the administration of the Italian Mutual Benefit Society and the alleged fraud 12 stemming from the irregular sale of the burial vaults to members of this society. 44. As a consequence of the legal action, on December 29, 1994, Court No. 7 for Criminal and Correctional Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes convicted Carlos Memoli to a suspended one-month prison term for committing the crime of slander and Pablo Memoli to a five-month 13 suspended prison term for committing the same crime, imposing court costs on both of them. 45. The judgment of Court No. 7 for Criminal and Correctional Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes was based on statements deemed slanderous against the honor of the plaintiffs. Statements made by Carlos Memoli included the following: a) on the radio program May 10, 1990 he said that the plaintiffs acted: “… maligning and lying, sowing terror in some, threatening others, it is of no 14 use…” ; this was is in relation to irregularities in the sale of the burial vaults; and b) in the context of the 15 administrative procedure before INAM, the plaintiffs were labeled as “three unscrupulous men;” “with the 8 Annex 4. Judgment issued on June 6, 1990. Court No. 1 for Criminal Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, Case No. 73.679, pg. 2. Annex to the communication of the petitioners of August 29, 2008 (received on September 9, 2008). 9 Annex 1. Brief of October 8, 1996 from the petitioners addressed to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of La Plata, in re Federal Appeal to Supreme Court, pg. 41. Judgment issued on June 6, 1990, Court No. 1 for Criminal and Correctional Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pg. 3. 10 Annex 1. Brief of October 8, 1996 from the petitioners addressed to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of La Plata, in re Federal Appeal to Supreme Court, pg. 5; cfr. Annex 4. Judgment issued on June 6, 1990. Court No. 1 for Criminal Matters of the Judicial Department of Mercedes pgs. 2-3. 11 Annex 3. Trial court judgment issued on December 29, 1994, Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 7 of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pgs. 4-5, 43-45, 53-55, 61-65, 67-70, 71, 74, 84. 12 Cfr. Annex 3. Trial court judgment issued on December 29, 1994, Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 7 of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pgs. 2-24. 13 Annex 3. Trial court judgment issued on December 29, 1994, Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 7 of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pgs. 84-85. 14 Annex 3. Trial court judgment issued on December 29, 1994, Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 7 of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pg. 67, ll). 15 Annex 3. Trial court judgment issued on December 29, 1994, Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 7 of the Judicial Department of Mercedes, pg. 65 letter c).