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Relatives of Sofía Fernández, along with the Justice Commission and self-organized groups, trans and travesti leaders, social organizations, human rights groups, feminists, and LGBTQ+ activists, marched today to the San Isidro courthouse to demand justice for her transphobic murder. “No one commits suicide in a police station. Even after more than two years, we still haven't been able to determine with certainty the exact date of her death,” her sister Mabel reminded everyone. One of their main demands is that several of the police officers from the 5th Precinct in Derqui who were charged in the investigation be brought to trial. 

Sofía was a 39-year-old trans woman and teacher who lived in Pilar. She was arbitrarily detained on April 8, 2023, under circumstances that have never been made public. According to the police report, she was found dead two days later in a cell at the Derqui police station in the Pilar district. Ten police officers were arrested in connection with her case. The last of them was released in June by Judge Walter Saettone of the Pilar Court of Guarantees No. 7.

Since the beginning of the case, nine police officers have had their cases dismissed by Judge Saettone, while only one, Officer Carlos Rodríguez, will stand trial for aggravated homicide. This means that the request from the prosecution and the plaintiffs to classify the crime as a hate crime based on gender identity was also denied. 

Today's demonstration was a response from family members and the Justice for Sofía Fernández Commission to "make visible and support the denunciation of all the abuses and demand that all those involved, now in the hands of the San Isidro Chamber, be brought to trial.". 

“The police always cover it up.”

"The family and friends of Sofía Fernandez, along with the organizations and various sectors of society present here today, come to express our deep concern regarding the decision made by Judge Walter Saetone of the Pilar Court of Guarantee No. 7 to dismiss the charges against 9 of the 10 police officers investigated for their involvement in the death of Sofía Fernández, which occurred on approximately April 10, 2023," they read on the open radio broadcast that was set up as part of the mobilization. 

Starting at 11 a.m., trans and travesti activists took the floor, including Las Históricas, Marlene Wayar, Erika Moreno, and Quimey Ramos. Human rights figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Claudia Korol of Pañuelos en Rebeldía (Bandanas in Rebellion), and Feministas del Abya Yala (Feminists of Abya Yala) were also present. Representatives from the Left Front were also in attendance, including Christian Castillo (PTS) and Romina del Pla (Workers' Party). Family members of victims of institutional violence also attended, such as Ivone Kukoc, mother of Juan Pablo Kukoc, who was murdered by police officer Luis Oscar Chocobar.

“The police always cover it up. My son was killed because he was Black and poor. It’s hard for me to talk about these things, but I come here with great strength to say Justice for Sofía and for her comrades. Stop killing in prisons and police stations. Down with the walls,” said Ivone Kukoc.

For some time now, the legal team representing Sofía's family has been observing and criticizing the investigation, denouncing the complicity of the justice system with the police. The Prosecutor's Office and the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM) also pointed out a series of irregularities, which had already been mentioned by the family. Now, all three parties have appealed to the Court of Cassation to overturn the dismissals. The case is in the hands of the First Chamber of San Isidro, composed of Carlos Blanco, Leonardo Pitlevnik, and Oscar Quintana, who will decide how to proceed. 

“It’s very important for us that the Court of Cassation and the judges of San Isidro respond. We know she was tortured, and after two years we still don’t even know the exact day she was killed. Because the prosecutor at the time, instead of determining what time she was murdered, decided to find out if Sofia had used drugs or not. They sprinkled cocaine in her eyes; she had no drugs in her body,” Mabel said. 

Sofia's autopsy revealed that third parties were involved in her death. 

“Go Mabel! You are not alone!” they cheered those present. 

190 messages deleted from the cell phone

“The judge didn’t see the autopsy report. He didn’t hear it. We’ve been demanding justice since May 8th of last year, when we went to Court 7 in Pilar to tell Judge Walter, ‘You made a mistake. We want justice for Sofía.’ Trans lives matter to us. I want my sister to be able to rest. I want me to be able to rest, and I want justice for Sofía. She had a life she was proud of. Nobody deserves to die in prison,” Mabel said today.  

The irregularities in the case are numerous: the Derqui police station's logbook was falsified and its contents appeared on the officers' cell phones; more than 190 messages were deleted from Sofía's phone while it was in police custody; some of the officers' devices were not examined; there were messages exchanged between them; and various pieces of evidence were either not obtained or still need to be analyzed before the case could be dismissed. Furthermore, it was never clarified why Sofía was held in a men's prison when she was accused, supposedly, of a bailable offense. All of these arguments were used by the plaintiffs representing the family to request the case be dismissed.

“Our bodies are not in the hands of justice.”

Trans activist Marlene Wayar also took the microphone in front of the San Isidro courthouse. “Our trans bodies are never included within the institutional structure of the Justice system, the Legislative branch, or the Executive branch. We have to resign ourselves to death because it's going to happen to us. They are heterosexual, they run the world, they vote for each other. We must think about how we embrace and protect each other and how we use the tools to keep going,” she expressed. She proposed analyzing how “transvestites, trans people, and gender dissidents can propose to break free from this human box we have built for a higher evolution where we are not predators of each other. Justice for Sofía. May we have time for reflection and for embrace because they don't listen and they never have listened to us.”. 

“We’ve come to demand the impeachment of Patricia Bullrich, Milei, and the judges. We’re going to demand that the law be upheld here. It can’t be that in 2025 this is still happening to the trans community and the national government is complicit,” said trans activist Erika Moreno.

“Justice is the right of the people to live in a real democracy and not a parody of democracy,” explained Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, a member of SERPAJ (Service for Peace and Justice) and president of the Provincial Commission for Memory that is following the case. 

“At the CPM, we monitor the situation in prisons and police stations in the province of Buenos Aires. We've encountered this kind of behavior within the public security . We must unite, as our colleagues have said, in our diversity, and strive to deepen our understanding so that things change and abuses of power are prevented. We will continue to advocate for Sofía and for all the cases we are constantly addressing throughout the country. Never stop smiling at life; the day you stop smiling is the day they have defeated us,” concluded the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Feminist Claudia Korol spoke of “the patriarchal justice system that legitimizes violence,” and of the permanent punishment imposed on dissidents: whether they are young people, youth from working-class neighborhoods, or Mapuche individuals. “Our response is not to believe in that patriarchal justice system, but to demand it in the streets, fighting and denouncing it.” She also remembered Nora Cortiñas, Lohana Berkins, and Diana Sacayán. And with her sights set on the Plurinational Gathering of Women, Lesbians, Trans, and Non-Dissident People of Corrientes, she called for “putting the march against transphobic murders at the forefront, with more strength than ever. As Lohana once said: let love be what unites us, let us make encounter and embrace our path to end this pedagogy of cruelty.”. 

From the open radio station, solidarity was also sent "to the comrades who will be meeting in Bahía Blanca this Saturday the 13th to demand justice for the transvesticide of Ro Sansone, a comrade who organized the first Pride marches in Salta together with the historic Pelusa.".

Adding to the twists and turns of the case and the impunity surrounding it, the new lawyer for the only person indicted by Judge Saettone, Officer Carlos Rodriguez, is Francisco Onetto, a libertarian lawyer who was a candidate for vice-governor of the province for La Libertad Avanza in 2023 alongside Carolina Píparo. He is also currently representing President Javier Milei in the investigation into the Libra scandal.