The Oral Criminal Court 1 of Dolores rejected the motion for annulment attempted by the defense of the eight rugby players accused of the crime of Fernando Baez Sosa by the lawyer Hugo Tomei. The judges unanimously denied the request and recalled that the same request had already been rejected three times: by the Judge of Guarantees, by the Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees and by the Buenos Aires Court of Cassation.
The defense of the accused had requested the suspension of the trial considering that the constitutional guarantees of the accused were not respected during the investigation of the case.
The prosecutor’s office that intervenes in the trial for the crime committed in January 2020 at the door of a bowling alley in the town of Villa Gesell, accused the eight rugby players of “agreeing to kill” the young man, by attacking him “by surprise “Taking advantage” that he was talking on the sidewalk, distracted.
for his part Fernando Burlandoone of the lawyers representing the parents of the murdered 18-year-old demanded a life sentence for the rugby players, whom he accused of committing “a manhunt”.
The first to present the guidelines of the accusation at the beginning of the debate in charge of the Oral Criminal Court 1 (TOC1) of Dolores was the prosecutor Juan Manuel Davilawho blamed the rugbiers for Máximo Thomsen (23), Enzo Comelli (22), Matías Benicelli (23), Blas Cinalli (21), Ayrton Viollaz (23), and Luciano (21), Ciro (22) and Lucas Pertossi (23) of the murder of Báez Sosa and considered them co-authors of the “aggravated homicide due to treachery and the premeditated cooperation of two or more people” Y “minor injuries”in the case of Fernando’s friends, also attacked at the door of the “Le Brique” nightclub at dawn on January 18, 2020.
“They attacked him by surprise (…) taking advantage of the fact that he was on his back, causing him to fall” and they followed him “hitting him even when he was already practically unconscious, causing injuries that led to his death”Davila said.
After the argument of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the lawyer Burlando, who represents the parents of the victim as an injured individual, stated that “the defendants made the decision to kill and they killed.”
“We are going to show that the defendants placed a real human fence on Fernando Báez Sosa that night” to be able to act “without risk” to ensure that “his victim, his prey” was not going to be able to avoid it “or count on help.”
After that first blow, “a human carnage only conceived in the decision of those who attacked was unleashed,” he said.
Before closing his arguments, Burlando announced that he will request life imprisonment for the eight defendants, who are present in the hearing room of the Dolores Appeals Chamber, closely following the opening of the debate, sitting on the bench with their faces with masks and guarded by a dozen agents of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB).
The last to present his arguments before TOC 1 was the defender of rugbiers, Hugo Tomeiwho asked to suspend the trial on the grounds that during the investigation of the case the constitutional guarantees of his clients were violated.
“They were denied the possibility of defending themselves”, “there is no sentence that can be valid if the process does not follow the processes of the constitution,” said the defender, who also questioned Burlando’s statements, considering that the detainees had already been sentenced publicly.
The debate, scheduled for 9 o’clock, began around 10 o’clock and the next of kin and relatives of the defendants and the victim who were not called to testify as witnesses were present at the hearing.
After the presentation of the defender Tomei, who made his questions to the process standing in front of the judges Maria Claudia Castro, Christian Rabaia and Emiliano LazzariFernando’s parents are expected to testify as witnesses, Maria Graciela Sosa Y silvino baez.
This morning, before entering the Dolores courts, Graciela said that her life and that of her husband “are an ordeal” and that she expects “life imprisonment for all” the defendants, since her son “is locked in a coffin, And that’s like a life sentence.”
The rugbiers were transferred this morning from the Dolores prison, located in Riobamba at 200, to the headquarters of the courts, located 10 blocks away, at Belgrano 141, guarded by about twenty agents of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service and the Operations Directorate Specials (DOE).
All of them come to trial with preventive detention and will remain during the 22 days scheduled for the process in the Dolores prison, where they were transferred at dawn on Sunday from Alcaidía 3 of the Buenos Aires prison of Melchor Romero, where they are serving their confinement.
Sources close to the cause indicated that the intention of the defense is that the rugbiers do not provide a statement at the start of the oral debate and that they are present during all the days.
