The Justice ordered house arrest for those accused of a alleged gang rape in the Cordón neighborhood and agreed to the request made by prosecutor Raúl Iglesias. In this way, the accused will await the sentence with a change of sentence since they were in preventive detention.
“I understand that the risks have subsided, they are innocent until proven otherwise,” Iglesias said at a press conference after the hearing in which Judge Blanca Rieiro agreed to the request.
From next August 2, the men will have control measures so as not to hinder the investigation, nor to escape from the country.. Iglesias conveyed that these risks can be “mitigated” even with people under house arrest, with the measures outlined.
For his part, the lawyer for the accused, Martin Frustaci, asked concretion because their defendants were four months deprived of their liberty. “The principle of specificity must prevail. It has to be accurate. The investigation has advanced and there is no obstruction to the investigation, (…) or intimidation of the victim, or the victim’s environment,” he said.
Raúl Iglesias replaced Sylvia Lovesio as head of the 4th shift Sexual Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. “I characterize myself for requesting preventive detention only in cases that really merit it. Extreme cases. And I always see all the alternatives before reaching that point,” Iglesias had assured a few days after assuming the new prosecution, on May 9, 2022.
On February 4, the three adults investigated had been charged with 180 days of preventive detention for a crime of especially aggravated sexual abuse. In addition, one of them was also charged with a crime of sexual abuse in real repetition and dissemination of videos with sexual content.
About the case, on February 2 last, The Observer reported an expertise of the Forensic Technical Institute (ITF) that was inconclusive as to whether or not there had been a sexual assault. In any case, professionals consulted on that occasion pointed out that the absence of intravaginal wounds could respond to the fact that the victim was having consensual relations prior to the attack.
