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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina. “No one commits suicide in a police station,” reads a sign in front of the Buenos Aires Provincial House in Buenos Aires City. It was posted on Tuesday, December 10, Human Rights Day, at the demonstration organized to demand justice for the death of Sofía Fernández. The trans woman died in the Derqui police station in Pilar (Buenos Aires province) between April 8 and 10, 2023. Twenty months have passed, and her family continues to demand justice to find out what happened.

Mabel Valdez is Sofía's sister and the main driving force behind the investigation, supported by transfeminist activists and human rights organizations. " We're here to file a petition with the provincial government to exclude the experts from both the Federal Police and the Buenos Aires Police ," she explained. She also explained that there are other experts familiar with the case, but so far Judge Walter Saettone, in charge of the case, has not summoned them. The only detainee, Assistant Officer Carlos Rodríguez, will testify this Thursday, and the plaintiffs will not be able to attend.

The demonstration took place Tuesday afternoon outside the Buenos Aires Provincial House in the San Nicolás neighborhood. There was an open microphone and LGBT activists and urban musicians , such as Karen Pastrana, participated. Buenos Aires City Police officers were present and filmed the entire event.

Sofía Fernández was a 39-year-old trans woman living in Pilar, Buenos Aires Province. She was a language and literature teacher, but was only able to work for a short time due to discrimination. She had begun her gender transition a year earlier and was in the process of rectifying her documents. She hadn't been able to access the transgender employment quota, a public policy the national government is trying to dismantle. She wanted to be a nurse. 

“She liked to go out with her friends, work, read, listen to music and dance, and play with her dogs,” the Justicia por Sofi Fernández in a pamphlet that Mabel handed to every passerby on Callao Avenue.

What happened to Sofia?

On April 8, 2023, Sofía was detained by municipal personnel for reasons still unknown and taken to the 5th Police Station in Derqui, Pilar district. According to a municipal officer who witnessed the incident, she begged them not to take her because "they were going to kill her." Two days later, her family was notified of Sofía's death. They first reported it was a suicide, then that she had suffered a seizure. But the autopsy showed clear signs of torture and a violent death caused by at least three people.

“Sofía's case is just another example of abuse and institutional violence. While there are those directly responsible, such as the police, the provincial government also covers up and lends a hand to the police so they can go unpunished,” said Laura Carboni, secretary of Gender and Sexual Diversity for the University of Buenos Aires Teachers' Union, who was present at the mobilization. Also present were Las Rojas and the 1969 collective of the Workers' Party, as well as independents.

Raquel Disenfeld, psychologist, feminist figurehead, and historical anarchist, echoed the protest. “ It's necessary to denounce, but also to build . Justice begins from the bottom up. As we build and stop all these abuses, we also curb the lack of humanity. This is a moment for us to create and unite,” she said as she took the microphone.

The protesters highlighted the situation the country is facing regarding violated rights. A reality marked by "the hostility of a government that is targeting all the rights won over the years by the LGBTQ+ community. With growing hate speech and provocation from governing institutions, the closure of INADI (National Institute of Women and Gender), the Ministry of Women and Gender, and their disagreement with allocating resources to reduce gender-based violence in the country," described the group demanding justice for Sofía.

What is the case today

The plaintiff, represented by Ignacio Fernández Camillo, requested the recusal of Judge Walter Saettone for conducting an investigation lacking a gender perspective and for having removed the aggravating circumstance of hatred based on gender identity. The judge also decided to release nine of the ten police officers who allegedly participated in the crime, either directly or indirectly, by covering it up.

The opposition to the experts proposed by the defense is also awaiting a resolution. According to the complaint, they are all officials of the Ministry of Security of the Province of Buenos Aires. "Just as their intervention as official experts is prohibited, so should their intervention as party experts. The province itself pays for their intervention," Mabel told Presentes. 

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In October, a visualization and perimeter inspection were conducted at the 5th police station in Derqui, and numerous traces were found that were not recorded at the beginning of the investigation. This is one of the irregularities reported by Sofía's family. Another is the defense's request to add psychiatrist Ana Spinetti as an expert witness to investigate Sofía. "They want to assess Sofi's mental health to say she committed suicide," Mabel explained to Presentes. This expert witness was also summoned in the Daiana Abregú case and in the case of the attack against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The investigation was led by a team of prosecutors consisting of Esteban Álvarez, the San Isidro prosecutor for illicit drug investigation; Manuel Cayuela, from the gender department; and Victoria Santamaría, an assistant prosecutor who also specializes in the subject.

So far, all of the plaintiff's requests have been rejected: protective measures for Mabel and her family, a change in the case to include the motivation of hatred based on gender identity, a request for the judge's recusal, and a request to avoid the involvement of official police experts. Furthermore, Sofía's close circle is not receiving psychological support from the State, her family reported. "It was a hate crime. It was the police," was the demand that resounded throughout the day.