The last of the 10 police officers arrested for the transfemicide of Sofía Fernández was released
Sofía Fernández, a trans woman, was killed in a police station in Pilar in April 2023. Ten police officers were arrested in connection with her case. The last one was released.
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Judge Walter Saettone, of the Pilar Court of Guarantees No. 7, released the last of the 10 police officers who had been detained for the transphobic murder of Sofía Fernández . Sofía died between April 8 and 10, 2023, at the Derqui police station in Pilar (Buenos Aires province).
The officer in question is Assistant Officer Carlos Rodríguez. He is charged with " aggravated homicide motivated by hatred of gender identity, by the premeditated involvement of two or more people, and by being perpetrated by members of the police force ." Rodríguez had been arrested along with nine other members of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police who were released last May. In his case, the evidence was sufficient for him to remain in custody. It was even proven that he was the only one who could have entered the cell where Sofía was on the morning she died.
The judge's decision followed the prosecution's request for Rodríguez's release after a new report dismissed the incident as a hate crime. Despite the recommendation to release Rodríguez, the prosecution maintains the triple aggravated charge .
The factual sequence report, lawyer Ignacio Fernández Camillo told Tiempo Argentino , presents several inconsistencies. Furthermore, the plaintiffs detected some irregularities. Among them, Fernández Camillo emphasized, is that the judge did not notify Sofía's family about the police officer's release, an act that violates the victim's rights.
A trial that has been pending for months
The plaintiffs filed a motion alleging the judge's misconduct. They also requested the case be sent to trial immediately, a request made in February of this year by the gender-based violence prosecutor's office—led by Manuel Cayena and Esteban Álvarez—which conducted the investigation. The motion highlights the work of that office, carried out with a gender perspective and respecting Sofía's identity. Mabel Valdéz, the sister of the murdered trans woman, reiterated that it was a transfemicide, as the prosecutors have argued. The plaintiffs confirmed to this publication that the initial steps to bring the case to trial began in February. However, there have been no updates on the matter so far.
The prosecution's request, which the plaintiffs support, is based on the legal concept of transfemicide: "triple aggravated homicide due to hatred of Sofía's gender identity, the premeditated involvement of two or more people, and its perpetration by officers of the Buenos Aires Province police." The plaintiffs clarified that even if the prosecution's request is not granted, the trial is necessary: it is a case of death in custody, aggravated by the irregular nature of the arrest. Sofía Fernández was arrested and held incommunicado in a men's prison for an alleged bailable offense. To date, all reports and forensic analysis extracted from cell phones indicate that the police officers, both men and women, harbored animosity toward Sofía because she was a trans woman.
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