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This morning at Criminal Court No. 26 in Buenos Aires, the trial began against Mariana Gómez, the 25-year-old lesbian woman who was charged with "resisting authority and assault" after she defended herself against a police officer who attacked her. Two more hearings are scheduled: the next one will be on June 11 at 11 a.m.

On October 2, 2017, Mariana was kissing her wife, Rocío Girat, near the Constitución subway station when she was assaulted by police and arrested. Today, on the fourth floor of the courthouse at 1536 Paraguay Street, the events of that day were recounted. Testimony was given by Mariana; Rocío; police officer Jonatan Rojo; officer Karen Villarreal; a Metrovías employee; and two witnesses who assisted the young women and recorded the incident on their cell phones.

“I was raped for 16 years and I never managed to get a judge to listen to me. Now a judge is listening to me, but as the accused. I'm seeking acquittal,” Mariana told Presentes. She was accompanied at the hearing by her family—her mother, Celeste Basiglia, and her brother, Facundo—her friends, and members of the media. Outside, as she entered and left, organizations cheered her on and demanded justice.

[READ MORE: Expert analysis confirmed that Mariana Gómez did not attack the police: “It was lesbo-hatred”]]

In her statement, Mariana said:

We were chatting because Rocío's father's trial was coming up. I was smoking; there weren't any signs. The Metrovías employee asked me to put it out. I told him there weren't any signs. With a wave of his hand, he called Officer Jonathan Rojo. Rojo said, "Hey kid." He wouldn't let me leave. He put his hand on my chest and said, "Stay here, you're going to be arrested." He kept calling me a man. There was a struggle, they handcuffed me, and they never answered me. When I tried to get out, he twisted my arm. When I fell on top of Rojo, I tried to grab onto anything and ended up grabbing the officer's hair. They took me to the police station at Boedo station. In the cell, they strip-searched me.

His wife, Rocío Girat, declared through tears.

I yelled at him not to touch her, that she was a woman. They told me he was going to be arrested. They pushed me, and there were people watching and filming. When I fell, I realized I hadn't landed on something wet, but that I'd wet myself because of the violent situation. They had their knee on Mariana's chest; I tried to lift their knee, and they pushed me. The police were yelling, "Tell your friend to leave!" They held her in handcuffs for three hours. Rojo wasn't wearing any ID. When Rojo took my information, I said "married," and he wrote down "single" until I showed him my marriage certificate. They told me they were handcuffing her as a matter of protocol. We are both victims of abuse, and we fight to see our rapists in handcuffs. Rojo left in the patrol car with her, and they wouldn't give me any information. Meanwhile, another police officer asked me if I thought that just because I'm a woman I had all the rights. This happened because a police officer was bothered by seeing us together. I attribute it to the fact that we are visible lesbians. It's no coincidence that the most visible ones are the most beaten, the ones who get yelled at in the street that they're going to be killed .

[NOW] #ProsecutedForKissing We're at the entrance of the courts at Paraguay 1536, CABA. The oral trial of Mariana Gómez is beginning. She's being prosecuted for defending herself against the homophobic harassment of a police officer who confronted her while she was kissing her wife in a subway station. https://t.co/wqa0bDMcbz pic.twitter.com/v9o4Ib1V5v

— Agencia Presentes (@PresentesLGBT) June 5, 2019

[NOW] #ProsecutedForKissing Rocío Girat, at the courthouse entrance, recounts the police violence she and her husband, Mariana Gómez, suffered in 2017, which resulted in their arrest and prosecution. The trial begins today. pic.twitter.com/IBdh7RsAqa

— Agencia Presentes (@PresentesLGBT) June 5, 2019

This morning, a Metrovías employee, José María Pérez, who asked Mariana to put out her cigarette, said—very nervously—that he saw Rocío crying. He said that Officer Rojo "politely asked her to put it out" and that Mariana "beat her chest and raised her legs, I don't know with what intention. I left, overwhelmed by the situation. I'm not homophobic. My sister is just like them. They do what they feel."

For his part, Officer Jonatan Rojo of the City Police stated:

"I asked her three times, always respectfully, to put out the cigarette. She started walking away, and I told her she couldn't leave at that moment. When she told me we couldn't touch her because we were men, I called for backup from Officer Karen Villarreal. She hit me with her chest. I didn't struggle at any point; I tried to stop her from hitting me. She tried to run away, but after about five meters, she slipped and fell. I grabbed her arms and subdued her. Rocío wasn't violent with me; she didn't dig her nails into me like they said on TV. That's not true."

The last to testify were Gianfranco Berttachini, a young educator who was on the subway and assisted Rocío, and Eliana Piromalli, an employee of the Huésped Foundation who was conducting surveys. Piromalli told Presentes: “I gave Mariana water, I saw from the beginning how they were being mistreated, and I went back to see if I could help them.” Berttachini added: “I was the one who filmed the video to show how they were subduing her like a man.”

At the end of the hearing, Mariana's lawyer told Presentes:

"Today all the witnesses and Mariana were able to testify. I believe we have a good portion of the evidence presented. There will be another hearing next week where the videos will be reviewed and the expert testimony will be incorporated. Finally, there will be a third hearing where we will present our closing arguments and the judge will issue the sentence. We are optimistic; we believe that, based on the testimonies, of the two accounts under discussion, Mariana's is the one that corresponds to reality."

[READ MORE : Mariana Gómez testified before the court: “It was a case of lesbophobia” ]