Last Monday it started in Cipolletti the trial for the femicide of Agustina Fernández. The only accused, Pablo Parra, Agustina’s family, and the popular jury, listened carefully to each of the witnesses who provided their information about the event. Today, the trial came to an end and the popular jury found Parra guilty of the death of the young student. Now it remains for the caesura trial to be carried out, which will determine the sentence. Although this is the figure of a femicidethe only possible sentence is life imprisonment.
After almost two years of waiting, More than 100 witnesses passed through the hearing room in Cipolletti to provide their testimony to the popular jury in the trial for the femicide of Agustina Fernández. Among them were friends and family of the young woman, experts, police officers and even an ex-partner of Pablo Parra.
This Wednesday, around 8, the last day of the trial began where the parties (the complainant, the Prosecutor’s Office and the defense) gave their final arguments. Then, after a fourth intermission, Guillermo Baquero Lazcano, technical judge of the trial, will explain the instructions to the popular jury prior to the debate.
«We were able to bring witnesses that were necessary. Comment and try”, The prosecutor said in dialogue with this medium, moments before entering the judicial office where the allegations were held.
Santiago Márquez Gauna and prosecutor Martín Pezzetta maintained from the beginning of the trial that Parra was the author of the attack against Agustina on the night of July 2, 2022. They claim that the accused planned a cut to divert the investigation and pretended that the young woman had been the victim of a robbery.
The lawyers for the complaint, representing the victim’s parents, adhere to that theory. Public and private accusers highlight that It was a femicide and they warn that the accused was obsessed with the young woman, who rejected it. Therefore, he decided to kill her. The student died three days after the attack, in the Cipolletti hospital.
Private defender Juan Coto stated that precisely if Parra’s objective was to kill her, why did he leave her alive? And he warns that the traces of DNA that the experts found on Agustina’s nails were compared with the genetic profile of the accused and are not compatible. From the defense, they maintained in today’s arguments that “The hooded man was not Parra” and that the accused “had no blood on his hands.” He also said that “the investigative lines of the identikit were not exhausted.”
Femicide of Agustina Fernández: the mother’s phrase for Parra
The student’s parents also spoke this Wednesday. “To you, Mr. Parra, Agustina says, no means no,” Told him Silvana Capello staring at Pablo Parra.
Then, Mariano, father of Agustina Fernández, spoke. “You were not convinced, it was shown to you,” he told the popular jury and thanked them for being present.
“I don’t want to move them, nor break them,” he said.
He told the jury that It is “in your hands that a murderer is not on the street, on your street.”
Femicide of Agustina Fernández: justice determined Parra’s guilt
After a fourth intermission, it was determined that Pablo Parra is guilty of the femicide of the young Pampean woman. The news was known after 6 p.m. Outside the courtroom, social organizations, friends and family of the victim They followed the jury’s results live.
«We, the jury, find the accused Pablo Parra unanimously guiltyd as the author of the crime of femicide, for having been committed by a man towards a woman and mediating gender violence«Detailed the president of the jury. After hearing the verdict, the family members embraced each other in a heartfelt embrace.
For the moment, Parra will continue in preventive detention until the sentence is determined.
Before the verdict, the popular jury received instructions from the judge on what the instance they will carry out is like. The deliberation took place in secret and the verdict was unanimously agreed upon. «You are judges of the facts«the magistrate assured them.
The need for a serious debate was raised – based on the evidence presented during the trial – and there was a request to “open our minds” when it came to debate.
Femicide of Agustina Fernández: “Justice was done,” said Capello
«We weren’t going to let this go forward. Justice has been done. This does not stop here, we ask that we move forward as a society. “May Agus’s life be worth it,” said Agustina Fernández’s mother.
Capello thanked the community and assured that they will now be able to begin mourning.
The lawyer for the complaint also thanked the public. «This is Cipoleño justice, the one that shows its face, the one that seeks results. With the resources we have, but with heart,” he assured.
At the exit of the court, social organizations sang songs of justice and applauded the struggle of the family members. «Augustine present«They shouted in a single cry, while tears of emotion ran down their cheeks.
Femicide of Agustina Fernández: the mother’s emotion while the jury deliberated
During the eight days of the trial, various people accompanied Agustina Fernández’s family in the vicinity of the Cipolletti Judicial Offices. ANDThis Wednesday was no exception, so the organization Ni Una Menos called to “accompany the family in the final arguments.”
They gathered from noon in Urquiza and Spain. The main speaker was Silvana Capello, Agustina’s mother: «Are we going to let this monstrosity be loose?, she began by saying.
«I want a society where we can all be. Let it be perpetual or we set everything on fire,” she added excitedly. Her word was known immediately after the popular jury began the debate.
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Femicide of Agustina Fernández: “There is a need for Justice,” said Buteler
Mayor Rodrigo Buteler spoke with the press during the intermission quarter. He noted that the trial is “very important for the entire community”. He said that yesterday he received Agustina Fernández’s family in his office.
Regarding the role of the Municipality, he said that it was at the disposal of Justice “in everything it required.”
“There is a great need for justice” expressed and highlighted the importance of accompanying the family throughout the entire process.
