The posters changed. The face of Julieta Riera (24) was in the center. For a while, the pleas for justice, the demands for perpetual pleadings, were gone. It is that Jorge Julián Christe (31), her then partner, had received the maximum penalty, convicted of femicide.
Last week, after the call of her lawyer, Ana Brugo (54), she learned that, by a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) of the province of Entre Ríos, the demand for justice had not ended and that, despite the surprise, her struggle did not either.
"It's reliving everything again, starting over: we expected anything but this would nullify the judgment? Never," says Julieta's mother regretfully.
Femicide of Julieta Riera in Entre Ríos: the victim's glasses allowed to determine that the murderer had hit her in the right eye.
It is that after an appeal and the double agreement of the Chamber of Cassation of the province, the STJ decided to invalidate the trial and order a new one.
By admitting the extraordinary appeal, judges Claudia Mizawak, Daniel Carubia and Miguel Ángel Giorgio ordered the annulment of the debate.
The decision, reached by majority with the votes of Mizawak and Carubia, established that "there were serious effects on the right of defense" and "defects" in the process.
Among them, the "incorporation in the trial of important elements of evidence (photographic records) that could not be controlled by the defense" and "the fact that the power of the defense to cross-examine witnesses, through technical consultants, was impeded".
Julieta Riera was 24 years old and was the victim of a femicide on April 30, 2020 in Paraná.
In addition, they went against the judge of first instance and questioned "the final instructions to the popular jury" considering them "confusing and imprecise".
It was a popular jury with 12 members that, unanimously, found Julian Christe guilty.
The fact
On April 30, 2020, Julieta Riera died when she fell from the 8th floor of the Insurance Institute, in downtown Paraná. Both the Prosecutor's Office and the family of the young woman considered that it was a femicide, while the defense of her former partner maintained that the death was accidental.
Christe is the son of former Civil and Commercial Judge Ana María Stagnaro and has been detained since the time of the crime.
Although the young man tried to sustain the version of suicide or accident, the investigation concluded that the girl had died as a result of previous injuries, consistent with gender violence, and that she was unconscious at the time of the fall as a result of mechanical asphyxiation.
The context of violence in which Julieta was found was proven in the trial. He even sent a photo to Christe's mom asking for help showing her bumps, the marks on her face. She did not tell her own family what she was experiencing, but they insisted on helping her when they noticed that she was "becoming more and more isolated", that she did not have a cell phone and that she could see them in brief moments and without them ringing the doorbell of the house she shared with her partner.
Julian Christe is in custody.
Julieta had a son who is now 6 years old and with whom she had also lost ties. In addition, on her body there were traces of "old blows" that proved that she had been subjected to violence for months.
The surprise
Mariana Riera is Julieta's sister and told Clarín: "We thought it was a very fair trial. It does not seem to us that the jury has been contaminated or that the judge has not been impartial. He maintained his stance, listened to both sides, we thought he was a very fair judge. Therefore, we expected anything, that they would reduce their penalty or that they would try anything but this, this is not.
This Monday, the prosecutor of the case Ignacio Aramberry and the prosecutor Patricia Yedro will meet with the representative of the Riera family, Corina Beisel, and with Julieta's mother, Ana Brugo, to decide whether to file an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to review this decision of the provincial Justice.
As confirmed to this newspaper Corina Beisel, the lawyer of the Riera family, first "there are ten working days to appeal to the Court" and, in case they decide not to grant the appeal, "the deadline to file the complaint is five more business days."
The pedestrian San Martín at 900, where the building where María Julieta Riera died (24) is located. He fell from an eighth floor.
"When the trial was over, I wanted to approach him and say: ready, we already proved that she was murdered, that my daughter was killed, now give it back to me. And that's not possible. I have to continue for my other children, for my grandchildren, but my daughter is not given back to me anymore and to think about having to go through all this again, is heartbreaking, "says Ana.
"We are going to suffer the lack of Juli all our lives. Now we have to rejoin forces and go out and fight for justice for my sister, because it's the only thing we have left," agrees Mariana. She says: "We had a poster, a very large banner made for us by a friend of my husband. Some time ago we cut the piece in which we asked for 'justice', to preserve it, to preserve the children too. But now it's feeling like we have to walk the road again, fight again."
EMJ
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