The prosecutors who intervened in the trial for the crime of Fernando Báez Sosa, which occurred in the early morning of January 18, 2020 in the seaside resort of Villa Gesell, filed an appeal before the Buenos Aires Criminal Court of Cassation to request that the three young people sentenced to 15 years in prison for the act will receive the same life prison sentence handed down for the other five convicts, according to judicial sources reported today.
Juan Manuel Dávila and Gustavo García, who brought forward the prosecution before the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) 1 of the city of Dolores, pointed out in their statement along the same lines as their closing argument during the trial and considered it proven that All the defendants were co-authors of the crime of “aggravated homicide by treachery and by the premeditated competition of two or more people, in an ideal contest with minor injuries.”
As they argued, Blas Cinalli (21), Ayrton Viollaz (23) and Lucas Pertossi (24) had the same degree of responsibility as Máximo Thomsen (23), Enzo Comelli (23), Matías Benicelli (23) and Luciano (21) and Ciro Pertossi (22) in the homicide that occurred in front of the “Le Brique” bowling alley.
For the prosecutors, “there were no roles”, but “everyone did everything” and “agreed to kill Fernando”, according to the evidence incorporated during the investigation, to 87 testimonies provided in the trial, and to dozens of videos reproduced and detailed expertise in the different audiences.
For this reason, they rejected the qualification of “secondary participants” imposed in their ruling on February 6 by judges María Claudia Castro, Emiliano Lázzari and Christian Rabaia, and understood that Cinalli, Viollaz and Lucas Pertossi should receive the same prison sentence. life fixed for the other five.
Dávila and García had announced after the trial that although they were “very satisfied” with the ruling, they would question the participation that the court attributed to the three sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In this line, they presented their appeal of about 60 pages last Friday afternoon, three days before the deadline to do so.
The presentation was made before the court that carried out the oral debate, which will decide whether the appeal is admissible, and in that case it will be sent to Cassation.
Sources close to the case indicated to Télam that both the defense and the representatives of Fernando’s family will do the same tomorrow, when the 20 calendar days that each party has expire.
The lawyers Fernando Burlando and Fabián and Facundo Améndola, representatives as individual victims of the victim’s parents, Silvino Báez and Graciela Sosa, will go along the same lines as the prosecution and will ratify the request that life imprisonment reach eight convicted, for understanding that they were all co-authors of the crime.
Sources of the cause indicated that Hugo Tomei, defender since the beginning of the case, will seek for his part to question both the conclusions of the sentence, as well as highlight the alleged procedural irregularities in the investigation.
Tomei will insist on the “inconsistency” that he understands existed between the original accusation and the one sustained during the request for sentences by both accusing parties, and will seek the acquittal of the eight convicted.
In a subsidiary way, it will try to get Cassation to make room for the proposal so that the act is framed in a lighter figure, such as a “homicide in the occasion of a fight”, which provides for a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
The defender will also request a hearing with the parties before the provincial court of appeal, in order to deepen their arguments, which will include the ratification of the different presentations made during the investigation.
The main point of questioning held by Tomei is the request for annulment of the statements of the accused before the Functional Instruction Unit 6 of Villa Gesell, the day after the crime.
The lawyer understands that these hearings were “non-existent”, and that for that reason the rest of the subsequent proceedings are invalid.
In principle, the Court of Appeals that should analyze the appeals of the parties should be number 2, because it already intervened in the case at the investigation stage: in July 2020, it rejected an appeal for “habeas corpus” as “inadmissible”. of the defense, which requested the release of the accused on the understanding that they suffered an “arbitrary deprivation of liberty”.
As for the convicted, sources in the case also denied different versions of alleged fights or clashes between them, inside the Warden of the Melchor Romero prison, in La Plata, where they continue to be housed pending a possible transfer to a prison of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service.
Last Friday the youngsters played soccer inside the unit in the three hours they spend outside the cells.
*With information from Telam
Saturday, meanwhile, was the 24th birthday of Lucas Pertossi, the oldest in the group, and also of Comelli, who turned 23.
The convicts have been housed in the same place since March 13, 2020, in cells with a capacity for two people, and after staying momentarily in Penal Unit 6 of Dolores during the 6 weeks of the trial, they were transferred back after the sentence. .