Jorge Barrerafamily lawyer Hernan Fiorito (the Peñarol fan murdered in 2016 in Santa Lucía by Nacional fans), described as “horror” the way in which most of the defendants were released after having served just over two years in prison and explained why reason they will not be imprisoned again, despite the fact that now a Court of Appeals upheld their sentences.
Fiorito was murdered on September 28, 2016during the Celebrations for the anniversary of Peñarol in the Plaza de Santa Lucía. A group of Nacional fans went there with the aim of stealing the rival team’s flags, but ended up wounding three black-and-black fans, including Fiorito, who died days later.
Justice prosecuted 16 people for the murder -with sentences of up to 23 years in prison-, but in 2018while the head prosecutor of the case (Mónica Castro) was on leave, her surrogate colleague (Alba Regueira) agreed to a request presented by 15 of the defendants to be released.
regueira interpreted the request based on the provisions of the New Criminal Procedure Code (which had come into effect in November 2017), despite the fact that the case corresponded to the old code.
“A horror that at the time we denounced“Barrera recalled this Thursday in an interview with the La Pecera de Azul FM program. The lawyer explained that the surrogate prosecutor made a”very bad application” of the new code.
“He agreed to what was requested by the defense under the argument that in the new code if two years after the formalization there is no accusation, he can request freedom. He understood that this, which was governed by the old code, had to be applied in the same way,” said the criminal.
Despite the fact that the Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence for the 16 defendants – one of whom died, since it was Washington “El Washi” Simón, murdered at the Vía Blanca fair in January 2022 by Peñarol fans who were looking for to avenge the murder of Fiorito–, those involved in the crime will not return to jail, a place where they only spent a little over two years.
“They are not being returned to prison at this time because, applying the old code, who can decide if they return to jail or not is the Supreme Court of Justice, when it comes to probation. The old code was very clear in that, when a sentence was enforceable -this is not because it still admits appeal- if the person who was sentenced is free, reinstatement to jail is suspended until the Supreme Court of Justice decides whether grant or not parole,” Barrera explained.
The defenders of those convicted of the crime have 15 days from this Wednesday to file an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice, which will eventually determine whether to grant “probation” or not, the lawyer said.
