Justin Bieber Now a 'Wanted Man' in Argentina
Justin Bieber has been ordered arrested by an Argentine judge after he repeatedly failed to appear in court to face questioning for an alleged assault at a Buenos Aires nightclub in 2013.
Back on November 9, 2013, the Canadian singer and his bodyguards have been accused by Diego Pesoa, a local photographer, of attacking him outside Ink, a Buenos Aires nightclub. Bieber left Argentina and, since then, has never returned to the country to respond to the court-issued summons to answer questions relating to Pesoa's allegation.
Now, Judge Alberto Julio Banos has issued an order for the "immediate detention" of Bieber and bodyguards Hugo Alcides Hesny and Terrence Reche Smalls. "'I consider it pertinent to order the immediate detention of the accused," read the judge's order dated April 8. The warrant for Bieber's arrest did not say whether it extended beyond Argentina.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pesoa's lawyer Matias Morla in his comments to local station Telefe Noticias implied that the warrant would force Bieber to return to the South American country. He reportedly said: "Now we just need to wait for the police to find him and bring him [to Argentina]. For us, this is a triumph against all those who said this case was a bluff and that we didn't have anything."
In November last year, another local judge magistrate had ordered Bieber to appear for questioning within two months regarding the same alleged incident with Pesoa. According to local news site Telam, Buenos Aires magistrate Facundo Cubas said then that Bieber will face arrest if he does not submit his testimony about the incident within the next 60 days. He ordered Argentina's Interpol branch to locate Bieber and inform him of the allegations against him. If the singer does not return to the country within the set period, the magistrate threatened to issue an international warrant for his arrest.
Bieber could face from one month to six years in prison if convicted on a charge of causing injuries under Argentine law.