Argentina Court Confirms Dismissal of Macri Intelligence Surveillance Case
The ruling closes a years-long legal proceeding against a former head of state and two intelligence directors, testing how Argentina's judiciary handles alleged abuses of state surveillance powers.
Argentina's Federal Chamber of Appeals, Chamber One, confirmed on September 7, 2026 the dismissal of criminal charges against former President Mauricio Macri and two former intelligence directors, Gustavo Arribas and Silvia Majdalani, according to La Nacion. The ruling was signed by federal judges Mariano Llorens and Pablo Bertuzzi, the latter having recently resumed his seat on the bench.
The case centered on allegations that officials within the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) during the Macri administration had collected email communications belonging to politicians, journalists, labor leaders, and members of Argentina's security forces. The original complaint was filed by Cristina Caamaño, who served as interim AFI director under the subsequent Peronist government, according to La Nacion.
The lower court had previously issued the dismissal, which Argentina's legal system refers to as a sobreseimiento, a full acquittal-equivalent that closes the case with a finding of no punishable conduct. The Federal Chamber's confirmation means that ruling now stands unless a higher court accepts any further appeal.
Arribas served as director of the AFI from 2015 to 2019, the full span of the Macri presidency. Majdalani served as his deputy. Both figures were central to Argentine intelligence operations during that period and have been subjects of separate legal proceedings on other matters in Argentine courts.
The AFI, Argentina's civilian intelligence directorate, was restructured by decree in 2020 under President Alberto Fernandez. The Fernandez administration cited alleged internal abuses, including domestic political surveillance, as justification for the reorganization. The agency's conduct under prior leadership became a recurring subject of judicial and legislative inquiry during subsequent years.
The case is one of several in Argentina involving alleged misuse of state intelligence capabilities against domestic political and civil society targets. Argentina has a documented history of surveillance controversies linked to both civilian and military intelligence structures, stretching back decades before the Macri administration.
Macri, who governed Argentina from 2015 to 2019 and leads the PRO party, remains an active figure in Argentine opposition politics. He has consistently denied any personal involvement in or authorization of unlawful intelligence gathering. His legal representatives argued throughout the proceedings that no evidence directly connected him to the collection of the communications in question, according to La Nacion.
The confirmation of the dismissal does not preclude future complaints based on new evidence, though Argentine procedural law sets specific conditions under which a confirmed sobreseimiento can be reopened. What would determine whether such a reopening occurs is the emergence of evidence not available to the court at the time of the original ruling.
The ruling arrives during a period of political tension in Argentina over the scope of state intelligence functions. The current government of President Javier Milei, who took office in December 2023, has pursued its own restructuring of state agencies, including intelligence bodies, as part of a broader austerity and deregulation agenda. How the Milei administration's intelligence reforms interact with ongoing judicial reviews of prior-era conduct remains an open question in Argentine legal and political circles.
No date has been announced for any further appeal in the Macri surveillance case, and it is not yet known whether Caamaño or other complainants will seek review by Argentina's Supreme Court.