What you should know about the murder of the young Fernando Báez 1:59
(CNN Spanish) --
"My son needs justice," said Graciela Sosa, mother of Fernando Báez Sosa, moved, at the entrance to the courts where the trial for the murder of her only son began this Monday.
Fernando was 18 years old and was attacked, presumably by a group of 20-something rugby players who beat him to death at the exit of a dance venue in Villa Gesell, a seaside resort in Argentina, on January 18, 2020, in the middle of the summer vacation season. summer.
The case, which comes to trial three years after the fact, shocked and moved public opinion due to the pain of Báez Sosa's parents, who lost their only son, but also due to the brutality and coldness of the attack and the silence of the defendants during and after the murder.
The trial, which takes place in the middle of the judicial fair in the Courts of the City of Dolores, some 160 kilometers from the place of the murder, will include about 150 witnesses and the presence of all the defendants at the hearings is expected, who were transferred to there in the middle of a strong security operation.
Preventive detention of 8 rugbiers for the death of Fernando Báez Sosa in Argentina
Who are the defendants for the death of Fernando Báez Sosa?
Máximo Thomsen, Enzo Comelli, Matías Benicelli, Blas Cinalli, Ayrton Viollaz and Luciano, Ciro and Lucas Pertossi are accused of this crime for which they have been tried since Monday.
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They made up a group of friends who played rugby in the city of Zárate, north of Buenos Aires, and were on vacation in Villa Gesell in the early days of 2020. But they were arrested a few hours later and accused of having hit, in the early morning of that January 18, to Fernando Báez Sosa until he was killed.
Since then, the youths have served preventive detention in Alcaidía 3 of the Buenos Aires prison of Melchor Romero.
There they occupied four cells, according to sources from the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB) cited by Télam.
But now, and while the trial is taking place, they were transferred to Unit 6 in Dolores.
In addition, there were three other detainees, later dismissed during the investigation of the case: Alejo Milanesi and Juan Pedro Guarino, detained along with the eight defendants but later released for "lack of merit" and Pablo Ventura, who was able to prove that he was not in Villa Gesell at the time of the murder and that he had been arrested in Zárate.
Who was Fernando Báez Sosa?
The defendants' lawyer told local media in 2020 that the principle of innocence corresponds to them.
What are they accused of?
The 8 detained rugby players are tried for the crime of "double aggravated homicide due to treachery and the premeditated competition of two or more people" in an oral trial before the Criminal Court 1 of Dolores.
Part of the process, the initial hearing, the closing arguments and the verdict, will be broadcast through the YouTube channel of the Buenos Aires Supreme Court.
The penalty for this crime can be life imprisonment.
But, in addition, they will be tried for the injuries suffered by five of Fernando's friends at the time of the attack, presumably caused to prevent them from helping him during the attack.
The crime of Fernando Báez Sosa shocks the country (Photo by Telam)
What happened that night?
Fernando Báez Sosa was on vacation in Villa Gesell and had gone out dancing at the Le Brique nightclub, where he had an altercation with a group of rugby players who waited for him at the exit and in the early morning of January 18, 2020 he ended up murdering hits.
According to the witnesses, this altercation would have started after a friend of Báez Sosa brushed against one of the rubgiers and he tried to defend him.
The security of the place threw them all out.
While waiting for the rest of his group of friends to come out, Báez Sosa was seen by two of the rugby players who warned the rest of his teammates and after a few minutes they all went to attack him from behind.
There were ten, although for the Prosecutor's Office only eight, the detainees, participated in the homicide.
As reported by the official Télam agency, after the crime the defendants shared audio messages in a WhatsApp group that they had created for that vacation.
"They took all the patovicas out of us, we beat them up badly, badly. They grabbed us all by the neck, they took us all outside, the Police and Gendarmerie grabbed us, we won the same," recounted Blas Cinalli.
"I am here near where the kid is and they are all there shouting, the Police are there, they called the ambulance, it expired," said Lucas Pertossi, the eldest of the group, in an audio message sent at 4:55 in the morning. a few minutes after the death of Báez Sosa.
Crime by Fernando Báez Sosa: "They were animals merciless with the victim"
"Guys, none of this is told to anyone," said his brother Ciro in another audio sent at 6:06 that morning.
Also, according to the Télam report, it was found that Máximo Thomsen and Lucas Pertossi went to eat hamburgers at a fast food place after the attack, which for Justice was "an alibi to disassociate themselves from the fact."
Thomsen is pointed out by justice as the one who gave Fernando the fatal kick to the head when he was "on his knees on the ground" and who said out loud: "I'm going to take him as a trophy."
Since the day of the attack, none of the eight defendants have spoken publicly.
During this trial, they will be heard to defend themselves for the first time and must give their version of the facts, tell how the beating occurred and what their participation was.
Fernando Baez