Charly was murdered on May 13th, but neither the justice system nor the press respected his gender identity. “One woman killed another” was the headline in the Salta media. The Salta Women's Multisectoral Group has filed a lawsuit and is demanding that this murder be investigated as a “transhomicide.”

By Elena Corvalán, from Salta

The Multisectoral Women's Network of Salta filed a request last week to be a plaintiff in the case of the murder of Charly, a 21-year-old trans man killed on May 13 in Ceferino, a low-income neighborhood in the city of Salta. Charly was stabbed and bled to death in the street, where his neighbors found him and called the police. A 21-year-old woman is currently detained and being prosecuted for the crime, under the jurisdiction of the Court of Guarantees No. 4, presided over by Judge Diego Rodríguez Pipino. The feminist organization made two demands: that the case file be amended to reflect the victim's gender identity as Charly, his self-identified name, and that his murder be prosecuted as a hate crime, since both omissions constitute "a serious violation of human rights."

Ceferino neighborhood, Salta 

Judicial and media violence

Charly's name does not appear in the court file, GAR No. 143.117/17. Nor was Charly mentioned in the media immediately after the crime: "One woman killed another" was the most repeated headline. The victim was always referred to, as she is now in the case file, by the female name she received at birth, which, according to Pía Ceballos, a leader of Mujeres Trans Argentina (MTA), constitutes a case of "media violence that aims to make our self-perceived identity invisible." The process to become plaintiffs was initiated by the president of the Multisectoral Women's Network of Salta, journalist Marta César, with legal representation from attorneys Josefina Arancibia and Gloria Cruz. “We want Charly’s self-identified gender to be respected when the person who committed the murder is judged,” Arancibia stated, emphasizing that this “is expressly contemplated in the gender identity law, which states that initially, if a person identifies as and says their name is a certain name, they must be called by their given name, regardless of whether or not they have changed their name on their national identity document.” This is the case of Charly, who had not legally changed his gender identity, although that is how his loved ones knew and remember him.

Most visible expression of violence

The Multisectoral group's other proposal is that Charly's murder be tried as a hate crime, as defined in section 4 of article 80 of the Penal Code, which stipulates a life sentence for anyone who kills "for pleasure, greed, racial, religious, or gender hatred, or hatred based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression." Arancibia argues that "this case clearly falls under the category of a hate crime because it not only affects the victim but also adds a criminal element by sending a threatening message to people who are like them, to members of the LGBTIQ community." "That's what we mean when we talk about transfemicide, transvesticide, or transhomicide, which would be Charly's case," she explained. Taking the life of a trans person is "the most visible and final expression of a structural chain that stems from a cultural, social, political, and economic system structured around the binary and exclusionary division of genders."

Multisectoral Women's Group of Salta 

Transhomicide

The use of the term trans homicide is also new. “Within the justice system, only femicides are counted; the terms transfemicide and travestivicide were only recently incorporated. We decided to include a category that relates to their self-perceived identity,” as in Charly's case, since it was the murder of “a trans man, we recognize his identity,” Ceballos explained. In its presentation to the court, the Multisectoral Group emphasized that trans people “suffer in a special and disproportionate way the consequences of the violence generated by the patriarchal and heteronormative structure of our society.” In this context, “Charly's murder constitutes a serious violation of human rights with a high negative impact on the community. In life, Charly, like the rest of the trans population in our province, suffered the multiple forms of discrimination and violence that civil society reports have systematically documented and made visible for years.” Being trans in Salta Among these reports, the survey conducted in the City of Salta by MTA through the “Rosana Alderete” Observatory of Violence Against Women of Salta stands out. This survey, whose results were released in December 2016, showed that none of the 202 people consulted had formal employment, and 40 percent had not completed secondary education; furthermore, 77 percent engaged in prostitution, although 63 percent of them did not want to do so. “According to those who accompanied Charly during her lifetime in her identity formation, her life did not unfold outside of this violent social model,” the Multisectoral Group stated. “We understand that clarifying her murder is a priority because only the restoration of justice in this case will reduce the scope of a state response that often presents itself as revictimizing and guaranteeing the impunity still associated with this form of gendered sexual violence,” they asserted. The Salta Judiciary reported that the case will continue during the winter judicial recess, and that a decision will soon be made regarding the Multisectoral Group's participation. Outside his inner circle, little is known about Charly. His friends, those who knew and loved him, are still deeply affected, and they don't trust the media, so they prefer not to speak for now.

“Charly dies every day”

Immediately after Charly's murder, Ceballos wrote a text in which he asserted his identity as a trans man. “Charly was subjected to discipline from a very young age by his family, school, and the various institutions where he sought help. This discipline reached the extreme of violence, where his body suffered blows, injuries, abuse, and rape, all with the sole purpose of 'correcting' his dissident sexual orientation. “Charly dies every day, murdered by public institutions, the state, his family, and the media, which emphasize the news of a name marked by binary thinking, by genitalia, completely ignoring his self-perceived identity, ignoring his life, his network of social relationships, camaraderie, and friendship,” he stated in that writing, in which he also referred to Charly as “comrade,” “friend,” and “brother.”