On trial for painting a mural of Where is Tehuel
Pierina Nochetti is accused of damaging cultural heritage in the municipality of Necochea. The prosecutor's office offered her a deal: apologize and remove the Tehuel mural.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. Pierina Nochetti is an artist, municipal worker, and LGBT rights activist in Necochea. A year ago, the persecution she had been subtly observing at work took concrete form when she was criminally charged for participating in the painting of a mural with the message “Where is Tehuel? ”
The activist was reported for “damage to public property.” The graffiti was done along with other activists on February 11, 2022, during an LGBT Pride march, but she is the only one being charged. It was a month before the anniversary of the disappearance of Tehuel de la Torre, a young trans man who left his home for a job interview and was never seen again. The witnesses in the case are Pierina's superiors, who say they saw her from behind in a news website publication.
The oral trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, February 7, at Prosecutor's Office 1 in Necochea. After receiving a letter from Amnesty International, Prosecutor José Luis Cipoletti, who is handling the case, suspended the hearing and requested a settlement.
Pierina was asked virtually to take responsibility for the graffiti, apologize, and remove it. Pierina refused, and the trial will continue.
Erase Tehuel
“I felt like they were trying to erase Tehuel again when they suggested removing the mural,” Pierina told Agencia Presentes . “They were also asking me to repair damage when I didn’t do anything wrong. They want me to take responsibility for the collective,” she added.
Pierina is 42 years old. She began working in 2017 for the municipality of Necochea. There, she worked as a costume designer, workshop facilitator in various disciplines, and teacher of the Comprehensive Sex Education workshop, which was closed in 2019 shortly after Arturo Rojas, of the Together for Change coalition, took office. Months later, the other departments where Pierina worked were also closed, and she was given a temporary position, which she says was misclassified.
“I was having administrative problems. Two days after the 10th LGBT Pride March, I arrived at work and they asked me to go to the Social Development office. I thought it was because of my reclassification. When I arrived, they gave me a summary stating that I was suspended for ten days and that 15,000 pesos were being deducted from my salary,” she recalls. Furthermore, they filed a criminal complaint against her.
The vague evidence
The lawyer representing Pierina, Francisco Arrospide, asserts that this is a case of political persecution and that she is also being targeted because of her sexual orientation. “She is accused of 'damage,' as if she had broken a monument. Nothing was broken; the mural was even painted neatly. And precisely the day after the complaint was filed, there was an article congratulating another person who painted one of those walls. This is political persecution against her because of her activism.”
Arrospide says that as a lawyer he is surprised by the way this case was built. “The prosecutor spontaneously took statements from two people who work at the municipality (Pierina's superiors). They said they saw her indirectly in a photo from behind that appeared on a news website. They believe it's Pierina because they say they heard her mentioning it herself. So their statements were taken and the case went to trial. We have a case with four witnesses who testified to having seen her in a photo,” he explains.
He emphasizes: “Political persecution is common during this municipal government. What surprised me is that it reached the point of a criminal case after witnesses gave spontaneous statements.”
Arrospide estimates that the oral trial may not take place for at least a year.
Without diversity, with discrimination
Next to the mural painted on February 11, 2022, swastikas have now been painted. No one investigated who did them or asked for them to be covered up.
“The place is always covered in graffiti. The swastikas even have signatures, and that person doesn't care about them anymore. So it seems like a kind of spite towards the activists and towards me,” Pierina reflects.
Despite the fact that the trans employment quota law was passed in June 2021, the Municipality of Necochea (Buenos Aires Province) is not complying with it. Pierina recounts that there was a trans woman who worked for the municipality for several years, but when the new administration took over in 2019, her contract was not renewed.
She also claims that another trans woman who worked in customer service at the municipality was put to work in another area under Rojo's management, where she had a colleague who called her using male pronouns.
“There are other lesbian and gay people. But they aren’t singled out because they aren’t activists, so it seems like both things are what bother people.”
Repair what wasn't damaged
On Friday, February 3, Amnesty International issued a letter to the prosecutor in the case expressing concern about the case against the activist.
“Amnesty International believes that this Public Prosecutor’s Office has the opportunity, within the framework of its legal and constitutional powers, to review the decision to pursue this criminal action against Pierina Nochetti for 'aggravated damage' honoring the commitment to guarantee the utmost respect for international human rights standards,” the letter .
It was after this intervention that Pierina was summoned to ask her to erase the graffiti.
Pierina is working with a psychologist and receiving various forms of support to prepare for the upcoming trial. “I took a psychiatric leave. Since this whole thing started, my life has changed because I became depressed. I can't believe so many resources, so much energy, are being wasted on someone who works,” Pierina says with a hint of despair. She has three children, and since filing the complaint, she has had to reduce her work and activism due to health issues.
LGBT organizations and collectives have been supporting Pierina from the very beginning. On the day of the hearing, a demonstration was organized to raise awareness of her situation, but this wasn't the first action. Signatures were also collected to demand the activist and artist's acquittal. She also received support from political organizations, unions, parties, and collectives.
The campaign for Pierina's acquittal states: "What they are doing to Pierina can happen to any visible and dissenting person in a punitive context of regression in our most basic civil liberties and labor rights."
No date has been set for the next hearing. More information about the case can be found "Absolution for Pierina
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