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The verdict that acquitted Eva Analía "Higui" De Jesús , accused of simple homicide for defending herself, was based on arguments presented from a gender perspective. This was emphasized by the lawyers who accompanied Higui in the trial and released the ruling today at a press conference at the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ) in downtown Buenos Aires. The Court informed them on March 25.

“Can Higui, a lesbian, black, and poor woman, defend herself against an attack?” was the question that the court answered for Claudia Spatocco, Higui’s lawyer along with Gabriela “Chiqui” Conder.

"The ruling analyzes the evidence from the perspective of Higui's version of what he said. That's why it's extremely important. That's what the gender perspective is all about: placing the case in context and not just interpreting the specific event in isolation from everything Higui had experienced that day ," added Indiana Guereño, a member of the Defense Support Team of the Ministry of Women, Gender Policies, and Sexual Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires, where she supported Higui's defense and is available to support other cases.

The verdict acquitting Higui on March 17 was unanimously voted by Judges Gustavo Varvello, German Saint Martin, and Julián Descalzo of the Seventh Criminal Court of San Martín (Argentina). After three hearings, they positively evaluated Higui's defense version. They dismissed the prosecution's version, which charged her with homicide and carried a 10-year sentence. The judges argued that the case was based on "inconsistent" testimony. 

Among the most relevant points of the ruling, Guereño highlighted that the judges "realized that the prosecution's version, based on the testimony of the deceased's entire family, was implausible." Furthermore, they "took into account all the bruises Higui suffered on her body, her torn clothing," and the heights of both the attackers and her, who is approximately 1.5 meters tall.

"The after-effects of the blows to her body and the state of her clothing indicate that she was the victim of a significant physical assault, which, although it can be inferred from her statements, took place in a swift, multiple, and significant manner, to which she reacted by trying to stop it and avoid a greater sexual assault, according to the tenor of the words she perceived," Judge Varvello described in his opinion.

What was not investigated 

The ruling also notes that the deceased, Cristian Espósito, was "altered" (sic) by the alcohol he had consumed and by a previous fight he had had with his cousin. However, it shows that, based on all other testimony, Higui was calm and tried to leave before the attack. 

The judges argued that the insults she received during the attack, including those related to her sexual orientation ("fucking lesbian" and "I'm going to make you a woman"), could not be verified beyond Higui's account. However, they emphasized that her sexual orientation "is a common factor in discrimination, which generally translates into sarcasm, insults, and in some cases, physical aggression, and that significant alcohol consumption fuels aggressive behavior, both verbally and physically."

The lawyers emphasized that an important aspect of the ruling "is everything that was not investigated." They told Presentes Guereño and Spatocco this in relation to the expert appraisal process, which the judges found deficient.

Finally, and based on the analysis of the evidence, the court concludes that "by inflicting the wound, the accused acted in response to an unlawful attack, which she did not provoke, using a rational means to repel it in the event of an emergency, given the marked inequality of forces, both natural and numerical, thereby exempting her from responsibility for the action she undertook and which ended with the death of Cristian Rubén Espósito."

Right to defense

"The courts have just recognized the right of women and lesbians to defend themselves," said Gabriela Chiqui Conder during today's press conference. She also highlighted the possibility of defense against "corrective" rape.

Higui's psychologist, Raquel Disenfeld, who has been accompanying her, spoke along these lines. She was blunt: "If she didn't act the way she did, she would have died." For her, self-defense and social defense should be included in Comprehensive Secondary Education (ESI) programs. "We need guidelines for care, defense, and prevention of violence," she suggested.

“I speak louder and louder because I am stronger”

Higui played like a midfielder in the SERPAJ courtroom: she took questions, blocked them, and moved forward with a firmness she acquired over the years of the legal process. There, she revealed that she would like to open a children's snack bar and that she wants to study law. 

“That way of defending oneself is not like a victim: it's about taking the lead, taking the field, raising one's head and saying 'here we are,'” said Mónica Santino, a lesbian and feminist activist and co-founder of La Nuestra Fútbol Feminista .

During the conference, when he tried to answer a question, Higui was surprised by the volume of his voice. “I’m getting louder because I’m getting stronger,” he said, his eyes shining.

“Lesbians can do a lot of things, but the doors are closed to us,” she said. Regarding her personal journey, which led her to being able to name what she experienced and recognize her rights, she said: “I've been active since I was a child without knowing what activism is. And I'm going to continue, by the way, now that I have a lot of tools.”

At this stage of her life, she has many projects. “First and foremost, I want to open a soup kitchen to share everything I've learned. (…) starting with the children, making them aware of their rights,” she began. She added that she would like to have a ball pit in her home for single mothers so they can take care of their children, as well as a music space because in her neighborhood “there are only guns and drugs,” she said. A third dream is to run a radio station to report on “everything that's happening in the territories.”

In five years, Higui sees herself as a lawyer. She says she can't stand the injustices. That's why, on March 17, when she left the San Martín Courts, having just been acquitted, she called for Tehuel's return alive, for justice for the girls and boys victims of trigger-happy police, and also for trans women deprived of their liberty.