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The court dropped the sexual abuse charges against trans activist and media personality Cris Godoy, who was criminalized for dancing for libertarians at the San Martín Pride March in November 2023. On Thursday the 27th, the San Martín Correctional Court No. 1, presided over by Judge Diego Calmanovici, was scheduled to rule on the investigation. However, the prosecution stated that “no crime was committed.”

Cris's case, initiated in 2023, was supported - through the figure of the amicus curae - by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), Innocence Project Argentina and the Penal Thought Association .

The hearing was on Friday, and the grounds for the judge's ruling were made public yesterday. The measure, CELS representatives Presentes

During the hearing, libertarian activists insulted the LGBT organizations that were in court accompanying Cris. 

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The impact of criminalization

The trial, which began (and ended on November 27), came after a two-year wait, despite the fact that, in the first instance, the Court of Guarantees No. 5 had dismissed the case against Cris, considering that no crime had been committed. At that time, prosecutor Ricardo Romero appealed, and thus this oral hearing was held.

However, after the statements of the alleged victim, Yasmin Arabena Toledo, Cris, a witness, and experts in the case, it was decided not to continue with the process.

“The witness, a member of the Libertad Avanza movement, was unclear in his account of the events. He even admitted that going to the plaza during a Pride March in our community was provocative. The psychologist also stated that, in the alleged victim, she 'found no indicators related to sexual abuse in her examination,'” Aramis Amaris, the lawyer in the case, explained to Presentes .

For her, there were “purely legal issues related to standards regarding sexual abuse, which of course caused the prosecution's case to fall apart. They also demonstrated how ridiculous the persecution of Cris was.”

On the other hand, she emphasizes, “her statement was extremely important. She was able to account for the collective dimension of this criminalization process and the impact it had, both on her and on the rest of the community that supports her.”

Another attempt at discipline

Cris Godoy is a trans activist and a leading figure in San Martín. She also works in communications and is a member of La Disidente. The cause has had a profound personal impact on her life. “I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and I support people who have been abused,” she told Presentes . “What these people organized within Libertad Avanza, the ministry of trolls, and all their media tricks have orchestrated has been very damaging.”

The dance on the night of November 11, 2023, she says, was a response to provocations from Yasmín Aravena, a libertarian leader. From then on, she recounts, through the manipulation of images and tweets, they tried to defame and discredit her. “And not only me. It was a way to trivialize the struggle and to force me into their stereotype of what LGBT people are. It was an attempt to discipline me, to discipline us.”

The libertarian provocation

Cris analyzes that the complaint against her was not an isolated incident. It occurred within a political context that fosters hatred and stigmatization. “We saw this even at the Antifascist Assembly in January , in Lezama Park, when a libertarian influencer had to hide and then escape escorted by the police,” she recalls.

Cris recalls that a few weeks ago, another libertarian group disrupted the last Pride March in San Miguel. “Those who responded to the attacks were subjected to violence at the scene, and also at their workplaces. And they were victims of doxing.”

That's why, she explains, this case, from which she has now been acquitted, also marked her as an activist. “At the time, I decided to go to trial and not do what the prosecutor proposed, which was a suspended sentence. That would have set a dangerous precedent of criminalizing our group.”

This case was one of the first legal actions in a libertarian context. The people who went to incite and generate violence at the San Martín Pride March in 2023 are from Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances) and even claimed responsibility during the trial, Cris explains. She also points out that they have direct ties to pro-government influencers, such as Gordo Dan and others who spread violent rhetoric.

“Hate speech permeates society to such an extent that there are people willing to use not only symbolic or media violence, but also physical violence. This is what they did at the 2023 Pride March,” Cris comments.

Remember that, on that occasion, these people stormed the Pride March public space, threatening them with the return of the green Falcon. “We thought we had won certain battles, but we realize we hadn't. That a far-right government can freely claim responsibility for state-sponsored genocide and face no consequences. In other words, she (the complainant) hasn't faced any consequences in this case.”

“Dissenting expression should not be criminalized”

The case brought against Cris Godoy was supported by CELS, Innocence Project, Asociación Pensamiento Penal, the Institute of Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP) and agencies of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Ministry of Women and Diversity of the PBA.

The organizations were outside the courthouse on Friday afternoon. Lawyer Bárbara Juárez, from the Human Rights and Institutional Violence Litigation ​​CELS, explained to Presentes: “ The argument maintained what Cris's defense and the organizations that have been supporting her have said: that no crime was committed. That the dance was an act of protest, that it was not sexual in nature, that the action was not sexually motivated, but rather a response to a provocation by a group of activists for purely political reasons.”

That legal support, but also their presence in court that day, was fundamental to this withdrawal, explained Aramis, the lawyer in the case.

The prosecutor dropped the charges against trans activist Cris Godoy.

The San Martín court may put an end to a long process of persecution against her and members of the LGBTQ+ community. https://t.co/DtSN4FpTSe

— CELS (@CELS_Argentina) November 27, 2025

Two years of harassment

Always accompanied by fellow activists, Cris went to testify on Thursday, November 27.

“I gave my statement and learned at that moment that the prosecutor was dropping the charges, understanding that there was no crime . That other acts of violence did occur, triggered by provocation from the libertarians, but that what had happened specifically between Yasmín Aravena and me was not an act of sexual abuse, but rather a response to provocation,” Cris recounts.

“The news gave me some peace of mind after two years of political persecution, having my data shared publicly, receiving media violence, and also receiving insults in the street as a result,” she says.

“Cris suffered a cruel and planned campaign of hate and digital harassment. We were waiting to see what decision would be made; we didn't know what was going to happen, especially considering the presence of Libertad Avanza militants and fascist activists outside the courthouse. They insulted us, systematically provoking us with shouts of 'pedophiles' and 'fucking faggots.' They were looking for our reaction again, but we avoided falling for their provocations and deployed our repertoire of struggle, action, and cultural and political resistance with great creativity,” says Aramis.

And Cris adds, “It gave me peace of mind and made me happy. It’s important to set a precedent that they can’t do whatever they want in our spaces. We already had these precedents after Milei took office. This was a way to dismantle these schemes that seek to generate violence, the only thing they know how to do.”