The oral trial of Mariana Gómez begins
On Wednesday, June 5th at 8:30 in the morning, the oral trial begins in which Mariana Gómez is accused, prosecuted for defending herself against the lesbophobia of a police officer.
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By Ana Fornaro
The trial of Mariana Gómez, the accused, begins on Wednesday, June 5th at 8:30 a.m. It will be held at the courthouse located at 1536 Paraguay Street, 4th floor (CABA). Mariana was assaulted by police on October 2, 2017, at the Constitución subway station while kissing her wife, Rocío Girat. As a result, she was charged by Judge María Dolores Fontbona de Pombo with "resisting authority and assault." The judge accused her of "thumping her chest" at a police officer.
[READ ALSO: #LesbianKisses Mariana Gómez is prosecuted after being arrested while kissing her wife]
On March 9, 2018, the Criminal and Correctional Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires rejected the appeal filed by attorney Lisandro Teszkiewicz. The judges also refused to hear Mariana, who requested to speak before the Court, nor experts who submitted briefs requesting that the indictment be overturned for lack of merit.
Rocío and Mariana are married and both have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of family members. In Rocío's case, it was her father, Navy Petty Officer Marcelo Girat, and in Mariana's, it was her stepfather and his father. Both cases became public in 2014, and it was in this context that they met.
[READ ALSO: Mariana Gómez before the Justice system: “The judges didn’t let me speak”]
“We both know about revictimization from our experiences of sexual abuse and then judicial abuse. Now we are trying to spread the word as much as possible because they could break into our house at any moment. We are afraid. Afraid they will beat us, that they will do anything to us like they already did, but we will not be silenced.”
Imprisoned for kissing
On October 2, 2017, Mariana went to accompany Rocío to catch the bus at Constitución station in downtown Buenos Aires. Just then, a storm of rain and hail began. The young women decided to take shelter in the entrance of the subway terminal.
They weren't alone: there were dozens of people doing the same thing. There were also other couples who, like them, were laughing, touching, or kissing. Many were smoking too, like Mariana. "But of those who were smoking or kissing, we were the only lesbians," Mariana said at the time.
They forced her face against the sidewalk, “in an act of unprecedented violence, since Mariana never resisted or used violence against the police officers.” This is according to the court filing, along with three videos documenting the police abuse. Mariana was arrested and released after 9:00 p.m. Judge Dolores Fontbona de Pombo stated in her ruling that Mariana had “thumped” her chest at Officer Jonatan Rojo.
“In her ruling, the judge ignored a large part of the evidence: we offered the testimony of Rocío, Mariana's wife, and some video footage, and she didn't consider it important. She only relied on the testimony of the two police officers and the Metrovías employee, focusing the entire incident on the fact that it was for smoking in a prohibited place and that the resistance to authority was a consequence of trying to prevent that,” Teszkiewicz told Presentes.
Mariana's case reached all national media outlets and support campaigns multiplied with the slogans #PrisonerForKissing #LebianKisses and #ProsecutedForKissing.
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