Monday, January 2, 2023 | 3:00 a.m.
The eight rugby players accused of the crime of Fernando Báez Sosa, the 18-year-old young man beaten to death in January 2020 at the exit of a nightclub in the Buenos Aires seaside resort of Villa Gesell, were transferred early yesterday to the prison of Dolores, where today they will begin to be judged.
Around 8 in the morning, a cell phone from the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB) transferred Máximo Thomsen (23), Enzo Comelli (22), Matías Benicelli (23), Blas Cinalli (21), Ayrton Viollaz (23), and Luciano (21), Ciro (22) and Lucas Pertossi (23) from Alcaidía 3 of the Buenos Aires prison of Melchor Romero to Unit 6 of Dolores, where they were detained between January 29 and March 13, 2020.
The eight rugbiers will be housed there -in two-person cells- for first thing in the morning today to be transferred to the Palacio de Tribunales de Dolores.
Since early yesterday, 200 Riobamba Street, where the main entrance to the Dolores prison is located, has been fenced off between Alberdi and Leandro N. Alem.
In the hearing room of the Chamber of Appeals, the same one in which the oral debate for the crime of photojournalist José Luis Cabezas was held almost 23 years ago, the eight defendants will be tried by the Criminal Court (TOC) 1 de Dolores for the crime of “double aggravated homicide due to treachery and the premeditated competition of two or more people”, to the detriment of Báez Sosa (18) and the injuries suffered by five of his friends during the attack.
Meanwhile, Fernando’s parents, Silvino Báez and María Graciela Sosa, are expected to arrive in Dolores this afternoon.
first hearing
Regarding the oral debate, the hearings will take place from 9 a.m. over 22 days, although the schedule could be modified based on the final number of witnesses who testify, based on an original list of 177, some of whom have already been withdrawn by the parts.
The court will be made up of judges María Claudia Castro, Christian Rabaia and Emiliano Lázzari, while prosecutors Juan Manuel Dávila and Gustavo García will intervene on behalf of the Public Ministry.
In turn, the lawyers Fernando Burlando and Fabián Améndola will lead the representation of the victim’s parents as the injured individual, while the defense of the accused will be in charge of Hugo Tomei.
According to sources close to the defense, the eight defendants will follow each hearing in person.
On the initial day, the prosecutors and the complaint will present their accusation, while Tomei, a private defender since the beginning of the case, will then present his guidelines.
After the interventions of the parties, only Graciela Sosa Osorio and Silvino Báez, Fernando’s parents, will testify as witnesses on the first day.
Sources close to the cause indicated to the Télam portal that the intention of the defense is that the defendants do not give a statement at the start of the trial, and the possibility that they do so later will be evaluated once the list of witnesses has been exhausted.
The last day of testimonies will coincide with the third anniversary of the crime, and will include the statements of Benicelli’s father and that of Luciano and Ciro Pertossi, and of the mothers of Lucas Pertossi, Comelli and Viollaz.
In addition, a young man from Zárate who had denounced one of the defendants weeks before for another assault, a friend of the accused who was designated by the complaint as “suspect number 11”, will testify, and Juan Pedro Guarino and Alejo Milanesi will close the testimonies , accused and detained at the beginning of the case and dismissed at the time of the elevation to trial.
Petition for perpetual
On the other hand, more than half a million people signed a petition on the online platform Change.org to request that the eight rugby players accused of Fernando’s crime be sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Justice for Fernando Báez Sosa. Life for the murderers,” is the name of the petition on the change.org/FernandoBaezSosa website that has already been signed by 514,674 people.
