- Writing
- BBC News World
Five of the defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment and the remaining three to 15 years in prison.
A court in Argentina sentenced this Monday the group of eight young people who in January 2020 beat another young man, Fernández Báez Sosa, to death at the exit of a nightclub in the Villa Gesell spa, in the province of Buenos Aires.
Five of the friends between the ages of 21 and 23, who played rugby together, received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for being the perpetrators of the “homicide aggravated by treachery“ of Báez Sosa and for the “premeditated contest of two or more people”. This implies that they must serve a sentence of at least 30 years in prison.
The other three received sentences of 15 years from prison for being secondary participants of the crime
The verdict – during whose reading one of the defendants fainted– was followed with great attention in Argentina, where the case caused enormous commotion.
The BBC Mundo journalist in Buenos Aires, Veronica Smink, reported that some media outlets even waited for the announcement from the Court of Dolores -the city where the trial was held- with a clock that marked how much was left until the reading of the three judges began. .
After the verdict was announced, the parents of Báez Sosa -who was an only child and was 18 years old at the time of his murder- affirmed that they felt a bit of peace.
“The truth is that following so much waiting, three years, hearing the verdict sounded strong when he said perpetual and I felt an emotion when listening and it gave me peace in my heart. I know who were the ones who murdered my son“said the mother, Graciela Sosa.
image source, Facebook
Fernando Baez Sosa with his parents.
“It’s very difficult to forgive them,” he added. “A son was taken from me who just wanted to go have fun and my son returned in a closed drawer from which he will never come out once more. His absence and our pain is perpetual“.
Silvino Báez, father of Fernando Báez Sosa, also positively evaluated the ruling of Justice. “We have peace. Tomorrow we’ll see how I get out of bed. Today I still haven’t come down from where I am, but we got something big, which is life for five and a bit of peace.”
“We need a little peace, recover our spirits, Because what we went through I don’t wish on anyone. It was very hard because he was the only child we had and seeing him like this in all the videos was very difficult.”
image source, Social networks
Máximo Thomsen, one of those sentenced to life imprisonment, fainted during the reading of the ruling.
The verdict
Judges María Claudia Castro, Emiliano Lazzari and Christian Rabaia ruled unanimously.
Máximo Thomsen (23), Ciro Pertossi (22), Enzo Comelli (22), Matías Benicelli (23) and Luciano Pertossi (21) were declared “co-authors” of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ayrton Viollaz (23), Blas Cinalli (21) and Lucas Pertossi (23) received a sentence of 15 years in prison for being considered secondary co-authors.
The ruling proved the prosecution’s accusation that the group of friends, natives of the Buenos Aires town of Zárate, planned the attack once morest Baez Sosa.
The defendants’ defense attorney had requested that they be able to hear the verdict standing up.
During the reading, Máximo Thomsen began to wobble and he ended up passing out in front of the cameras. According to the newspaper La Nación, he left the court by ambulance once the hearing was over.
The eight convicted can appeal the sentence.
The lawyers for the Báez Sosa family reported that they will appeal the ruling once morest the three young people considered secondary participants, to request that they all be sentenced for life.
image source, Facebook
Fernando Báez Sosa was the son of two Paraguayan immigrants and planned to study law at the University of Buenos Aires.
What happened?
The savage beating that ended the life of the 18-year-old, who planned to study law at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), occurred following an altercation between two groups of young people at the popular Le Brique nightclub, in the Villa Gesell.
According to witnesses, Báez Sosa wanted to separate a fight between one of his friends and one of the young men from Zárate. Because of the dispute, they were all expelled from the place.
While waiting outside the club with some of his friends, they were attacked from behind by the group of rugby players.
During the attack, which was filmed by many of the people who witnessed it around 5 in the morning on January 18, 2020 -videos that circulated widely on social media during the trial-, Báez Sosa was beaten unconscious and then he received kicks to the head.
According to the autopsy, he died of “strong head trauma.”
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