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By Veronica Stewart

Luz Aimé Díaz, a transgender migrant woman under house arrest at the Hotel Gondolín , arrived at the courthouse on September 11 for the first hearing of her trial. It was 204 days after the scheduled date. Luz is accused of committing a crime she claimed to have no knowledge of. The first hearing was held in a hybrid format: in person and virtually. The second hearing, on Friday, September 18, was held exclusively virtually via the Zoom platform.

In July 2018, Luz was charged with “aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping.” After providing sexual services to two men in Palermo, Luz was accused two months later of tying up and assaulting a 50-year-old LGBT+ man in the next room. Despite the lack of any evidence linking her to the crime beyond her presence at the scene, she served eight months of pretrial detention in the Ezeiza prison before being granted house arrest.

Call for justice in an empty courtroom

Court No. 8 is made up of Alejandro Sañudo, president of Oral Court No. 8, Ana

Herrero and Luis Salas's Diet. Herrero and Salas's Diet are part of the Oral Court No. 9 but joined the Luz case after the defense requested the recusal of judges Luis Rizzi and Javier Anzoátegui, for conducting the case with gender stereotypes.

In the case file, the defendant was referred to using male pronouns and described as “the defendant with homosexual tendencies” and as a person with an “objectively disordered inclination.” The trial, initially scheduled to begin on February 20, was postponed first for this reason until April 3, and then due to the mandatory social isolation measures until September 11.

Luz arrived at the courthouse with her colleagues from El Gondolín . The court and her lawyer, Luciana Sánchez, participated in person, while the prosecution participated via Zoom.

Two witnesses testified, including the victim of the attack. Although the trial took place in the same courtroom as the trial for the transphobic murder of Diana Sacayán, LGBT+ rights organizations that have been supporting the case were unable to attend due to the pandemic. Technical difficulties also prevented the trial from being broadcast. The hearing lasted seven hours.

Following a request from the defense, Court No. 8 admitted an expert witness on gender and sexual diversity , as well as an anthropological report detailing the living conditions of the trans population. The defense also emphasized the importance of considering all these dimensions when conducting the trial.

Luz had resumed her studies

The second hearing was held virtually on Friday, September 18. It lasted over nine hours, and eight people testified, including witnesses and expert witnesses. The expert testimony included forensic psychological, genetic, and ophthalmological reports, the latter being particularly important as they corroborated the defense's claim that Luz suffers from severe visual impairment and that, without appropriate medical treatment, she faces a serious risk of losing her sight. The court also ordered further expert examinations as requested by the defense.

Francisco Quiñones Cuartas, director of the Mocha Celis Transgender High School, where Luz was finishing her studies, also testified on behalf of the defense. Quiñones Cuartas described Luz's intentions and plans and highlighted the support the school provided throughout the process. Josefina Fernández, an anthropologist and feminist activist called by the legal team, emphasized the structural violence suffered by transgender women and the living conditions of the community, as well as the consequences of this violence on Luz's life.

The next hearing will take place this Friday, September 25.