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The Buenos Aires Justice system has once again turned its back on Pablo Cavaignac and Cristian Jacobsen: for the second time, it has closed the case investigating the hate attack suffered by the couple on the streets of Palermo in the City of Buenos Aires, in September 2020. More than three months after the first closure , the Criminal Prosecutor's Office for Contraventions and Misdemeanors No. 22 (Discrimination) headed by Paola de Minicis decided to close the investigation again due to lack of evidence.

"The investigation of crimes committed on public streets or in private places with public access, motivated by hatred based on gender or sexual orientation, gender identity, or its expression, has not shown significant progress in recent years in terms of punishment; many of them have been closed due to lack of evidence or other procedural reasons," Emiliano Montini, Director of Legal Affairs at INADI, explained to Presentes .

According to Montini, Argentina does not have an acceptable track record in investigating and prosecuting this type of conduct. 

The attack in a Buenos Aires neighborhood

That's what Pablo and Yaco experienced during these months, searching for justice but finding nothing. On September 30, 2020, they had gone out for a beer in Palermo and, on their way back, kissed on a street corner. At that moment, a group of people began beating them. Yaco suffered injuries to both knees, his right elbow, the palm of his left hand, and severe pain in his shoulder and ear. Days later, they received homophobic messages on social media and reported attacks at their front door. With this measure, the investigation into these events has been closed, for the second time. 

“First, the case was filed due to the complaint about the homophobic attack, the digital harassment, and the damage to our home. We requested a review by the Chamber of Deputies' prosecutor's office, and they revoked the filing. We also requested that the digital harassment and the police actions be further investigated,” Pablo Cavaignac told Presentes about the first filing.

"That's what the prosecutor did. And now she's dismissing the case again in two months, saying that Facebook isn't responding to requests to find out who the users behind the digital harassment are and that there's no crime in the police action," he concluded indignantly. 

In this second case, Prosecutor De Minicis asked the Urban Monitoring Area of ​​the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to install a camera in the area. She also asked the City's Undersecretariat of Human Rights to train its citizens on diversity and sexual orientation, and to extend this to local security forces. She had already requested both of these points the first time the case was filed.

They say the prosecutor never met with them. They weren't even allowed to see the file. "What's the message?" Pablo and Yaco ask. "They hit you. They call you a faggot, the police don't do anything, and the courts don't punish anyone? Then we're surprised when things like Samuel's case happen in Spain." 

This refers to Samuel Luiz, a 24-year-old man who was beaten while being insulted for his sexual orientation. He died in the early hours of Saturday, July 3, outside a nightclub in A Coruña. His friend, Lina, told the media that the attack began with homophobic insults. 

Facebook doesn't answer

After the initial dismissal of the case in March 2021, Pablo Cavaignac requested that Facebook again request information about the users who had attacked him on social media. The prosecutor, according to the new court document, requested this but received no response. 

He also requested an analysis of an Instagram profile, but, De Minicis wrote, “it has been concluded that no individual could be linked to that profile.” 

However, after receiving this second file, Pablo Cavaignac asked to see the case file and confirmed what he suspected: that profile had already been identified, and the prosecutor had the information to summon him to testify—including his ID and home address, where he studied and where he works—but he never did. 

What is missing to move forward

Emiliano Montini, Director of Legal Affairs at INADI, says he is aware of these facts and many others. Based on what he has seen over the years, he believes there is a lack of technical and procedural tools to advance these cases. One of these tools is a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that would amend Law 23.592 , among other regulations.

Until now, this law does not mention sexual orientation or identity in the text. It only refers to discrimination based on race, religion, nationality, ideology, political or union opinion, sex, economic status, social condition, or physical characteristics. Organizations have been calling for this change 20 years

"At INADI , we are working on a comprehensive, innovative law with a strong preventive and educational premise , without ignoring the criminal sanctions that the most serious behaviors should carry," he explained. His plan is to introduce it this year.