The former councilor of Río Gallegos Emilio Maldonado He was sentenced this Thursday to 16 years in prison for the crime of sexual abuse against two girls, in a ruling by a majority of the Criminal Chamber of the First Judicial District of the capital of Santa Cruz.
The sentence requested by the prosecution was voted in favor by Jorge Yance, president of the Chamber, and Alejandra Vila, while Joaquín Cabral voted in dissent.
According to the ruling that the president of the Chamber read, Maldonado was considered “criminally responsible for seriously outrageous sexual abuse, aggravated by the guard in real competition with sexual abuse with carnal access for repeated similar acts.”
The court rejected the proposals for annulment presented by the former councilor’s technical defense, which had requested the annulment of the Gesell Chambers practiced on the victims and the acquittal of the accused.
Prosecutor Iván Saldivia was “in agreement in principle, because what we asked for as a sentence was reflected in the ruling of 16 years in prison”, to which the plaintiffs’ lawyers adhered.
“There is a different issue in terms of qualification, very technical issues that do not address the substantive issue and ultimately resulted in the conviction that we had requested,” the magistrate explained to Télam.
Saldivia warned that “this was a case with a lot of repercussions” because of the position he held and at a popular level “it was thought that questions of political power could prevail.”
And he stressed that, on the contrary, the ruling of the Chamber showed that “the former councilor was always worked in order of the crime for which he was charged.”
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- By free and confidential call to Line 102.
- If you are a victim of family or sexual violence, call the Line 137.
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“The elements (against him) were forceful and there was no doubt”said the prosecutor.
Maldonado was the first candidate for councilor on the list for which the current mayor Pablo Grasso won the mayor of Río Gallegos in the last elections.
By the majority of the Frente de Todos, he was elected president of the Deliberative Council, a position he held until his arrest on September 24, 2020, after being denounced for the abuse of two girls.
“There is no sentence that heals our daughters, but we show that our daughters never lied. It is shown that children do not lie. This fight is theirs, we are only the visible faces”Carolina, mother of one of the victims, told the press.
