An Argentine court began on Monday to try eight rugby players accused of the crime of a young man beaten to death at the exit of a nightclub in a popular resort, in an episode that shocked the South American country three years ago.
Source: AFP
“I don’t understand how they are so cowardly and how they attacked my son. Let’s hope that justice acts and they give them what they really deserve, life imprisonment and that they do what they should. My son is buried in a coffin and it’s like a life sentence. Enough of privileges!” the victim’s mother, Paraguayan Graciela Sosa, told the press as she left the court.
The crime of Fernando Báez Sosa, 18, occurred on January 18, 2020, in the middle of the summer season, at the exit of a nightclub in the resort of Villa Gesell, 370 km to the south, a destination very popular with young people on the Argentine Atlantic coast.
that early morning fI was attacked by a group of eight young people, who at that time were between 18 and 21 years old and played for Naútico Arsenal Zárate, a provincial club 90 km north of Buenos Aires.
Related note: Video- Paraguayan beaten to death: they ask for life imprisonment for those involved
Báez Sosa, who was an only child, He died of a head injury caused by the blows received when he was lying on the sidewalk.
As the attackers kicked him to the ground, they yelled racist insults at him, according to witnesses, security camera records and subsequent chats between the defendants, who spent their vacations in Villa Gesell.
“My son needs justice so he can rest.” Fernando Báez Sosa’s mother appeared at the beginning of the trial against the rugbiers accused of the young man’s crime in Villa Gesell, on January 18, 2020.
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The defendants – Máximo Thomsen (23 years old), Enzo Comelli (22), Matías Benicelli (23), Blas Cinalli (21), Ayrton Viollaz (23), the brothers Luciano (21) and Ciro (22) Pertossi, and their cousin Lucas (23)– were arrested the same day.
They are serving preventive detention in a jail on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, from where they were transferred to Dolores, 200 km to the south, to attend the start of the trial that will last 22 days and in which more than 150 witnesses will be heard.
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They are accused of “aggravated homicide due to treachery and the premeditated cooperation of two or more people”, as well as causing “light injuries” to Báez’s friends who tried to help the victim.
“They attacked him from behind, they threw him to the ground. They burst his head, that little body that I had for nine months in my belly, ”lamented her mother, who attended the trial with her husband, Silvino Báez.
The crime shocked the Argentines, there were events and marches demanding justice and the rugby authorities promoted the issuance of behavior courses to almost 4,000 players.
