The attorneys Indiana Guereño and Sabrina Cartabia, who provided support for the defense of Higui De Jesúsin their capacity as members of a program of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Women, highlighted that the acquittal ruling “is very relevant due to the way in which the evidence is analyzed” applying the gender perspective for the first time in the entire process.
“The prosecution said ‘she was armed, he defended himself’, while the gender perspective (of the judges) puts all that into context: It was not a confrontation of equals, but Higui was on the floor, he was kicked, he was alone against several men “told Télam Guereño, who is part, together with Cartabia, of the Defense Support Team of the Ministry of Women, Gender Policies and Sexual Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires.
This contextual analysis also implies “not reading the fact in particular, isolated from all that Higui had lived”, but take into account their multiple violations and previous occasions in which the aggressor had violated both her and other people.
In this sense, he pointed out that the ruling of TOC 7 of San Martín, whose foundations were disclosed on Tuesday, “analyzes the evidence from the point of view of the version that Higui gave” and that until now it had not been taken into accountThat is why she came to trial accused of simple murder.
Thus, the judges “realized that the version given by the Prosecutor’s Office, based on testimonies from relatives and friends of the person who died, was improbable and they said ‘well, this can’t possibly happen in reality’”, such as the fact that the aggressor had attacked Higui only after she had hurt him or that she had kicked him over his friend’s shoulder , what he is 18 centimeters taller than her.
“Another important thing that the ruling does is say everything that was not investigated: the hits that Higui had on his body, his ripped clotheseverything he said or could not say at the time for afraid, as it was. Something as basic as analyzing Higui’s clothes or the place where the event occurredIt wasn’t done,” he said.
In turn, Cartabia highlighted the importance of “making visible” this type of ruling, because the more this type of argument is known, “the more women, lesbians, transvestites and trans will know that self defense is legal and they will not take the word of a lawyer or lawyer”.
“A good sentence, a sentence that applies the international standards of human rightsalways serves to raise awareness because many times it happens to us that there are many tools and advances that are not known”, said
“And when this type of case acquires a public resonance, it also helps us to be able to find greater ways of access and communication with the Judiciary to bring the gender perspective and access to justice to the place where it should be,” she added.
On the other hand, he highlighted that The Ministry “is doing concrete work” to collaborate with the lawyers of women accused in conditions of vulnerabilitybut that it needs greater visibility so that “we can reach those cases” and thus collaborate so that “trials and sentences and convictions are no longer based on stereotypes but on fact, evidence and law.”
“We find the cases because many times they come to us, but also because we look for them, because we see that news comes out in some media and we do everything possible to communicate with the defense of the accused trans woman or lesbian. for give you support“, said.
