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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. The trial for the transphobic murder of Melody Barrera begins today . A jury will try former Mendoza police officer Darío Jesús Cháves Rubio. The trial will consider the charge of “hate based on gender expression,” judicial sources told Presentes . LGBTQ+ organizations are using the hashtags #FueTravesticidio (ItWasTransphobic Murder) and #JusticiaXMelody (Justice for Melody) to raise awareness of the case.

“We demand that transvesticide and femicide be classified as crimes with premeditation based on gender identity, and that life imprisonment be imposed,” activists said in a statement last Friday in front of the Mendoza House in the city of Buenos Aires.

The trial , scheduled to run until Friday, September 16, will begin at 2 p.m. at the Criminal Courthouse in Mendoza. Today, a "voir dire" hearing will be held to select the 12 jurors and alternates who will make up the jury. Opening statements will begin this afternoon. Prior to the hearing, a press conference will be held, led by Melody's family, her lawyer, and the Justice for Melody collective .

Hate crime

Melody Barrera was a 27-year-old trans woman who transitioned when she was 16. On August 29, 2020, she was murdered in the early morning with at least six shots fired from a vehicle on Correa Saa and Costanera streets, a red-light district in the Guaymallén department, a few meters from the border with the provincial capital.

According to the Medical Examiner's Office, most of the bullets struck the chest directly, and death was instantaneous. A number of spent 9mm shell casings were found at the scene of the attack by the Scientific Police.

Homicide prosecutor Andrea Lazo, along with the head prosecutor of that unit, Fernando Guzzo, will formally charge Cháves Rubio. The accused served as a police officer in the Mendoza Police Department at the 34th Precinct in Godoy Cruz. 

The crime for which the man is currently detained is that of "aggravated homicide due to hatred of gender expression in ideal concurrence with simple homicide aggravated by the use of a firearm, in real concurrence with violation of the measures adopted by the authority to prevent an epidemic," reported sources from the Public Prosecutor's Office.

The judge presiding over the proceedings is Nancy Lecek. The prosecution will be represented by attorneys Viviana Beigel and Lucas Lecour, from the human rights organization Xumek. The defendant will be represented by attorney Pablo Cazabán.

Talks and activities by Melody

During the trial, trans activist Marlene Wayar will participate remotely as a specialized witness. Meanwhile, activists Alma Fernández, Daniela Ruiz, Florencia Guimaraes, and Say Sacayán will travel to the city of Mendoza. They will participate in various talks and exhibitions to disseminate information and raise issues of debate regarding the situation of the trans community. 

This Monday at 6 p.m., the series will begin with the talk “Social Transvesticide from a Human Rights Perspective” at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the National University of Cuyo. Additionally, on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., a transvestite and transgender demonstration will be held to support the province of Mendoza's adherence to the National Transvestite and Transgender Employment Quota Law. 

“This trial must mark a turning point in our relationship with the state’s repressive forces,” they stated in the press release. They added: “In Mendoza and throughout the country, it is time for the state and its institutions to begin to redress the immense violence inflicted upon our lives.”

“We hope that what happens in the patriarchal justice system will open a door for us to begin discussing all those situations that were never addressed. Situations of sexism, violence, racism, and migration issues that were never acknowledged because the justice system still exists in another era, in another world that has nothing to do with what we are experiencing here. This marks a turning point for us,” the brown-skinned activist Daniela Ruiz told Presentes

After naming the links between this crime, the murder of Diana Amancay Sacayán, the murder of Alejandra Ironici , and the attack on Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the statement emphasized: “We respond to this hatred with love, community, and politics. Enough with the murders of trans women and enough with the hatred.”