(CNN Spanish) — On December 29, 2017, Fernando Pastorizzo, a 20-year-old young man, was found dead in Gualeguaychú, Argentina, along with his motorcycle. He had been shot twice. His girlfriend was consulted first as a witness. But the commotion broke out when his name made headlines as a suspect in the crime. Finally, in 2018, the justice system confirmed the accusations: at just 19 years old, Nahir Galarza was sentenced to life in prison for “qualified homicide involving a person with whom she had or has had a relationship.”
The young woman’s name is now resonating again, but this time in the world of streaming: Prime Video brought her story to fiction and released the film “Nahir.”
“One of the most controversial cases in recent years in Argentina, this film is based on the true story of Nahir Galarza and the murder of his boyfriend that shook the country. The youngest woman ever convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Argentina, questions still remain: Was this a crime of passion or has the truth not yet been fully discovered?” says the official synopsis of the film.
Actress Valentina Zenere, who participated in productions such as the Spanish series “Elite”, will play the young woman. While Simón Hempe, who also worked in “The Snow Society”, is the one who plays the role of Pastorizzo.
“It was a long job, to understand her, to not judge her, to put myself in her truth,” Zenere explained about her role.
Nahir’s case shocked Argentina and led to a film. (Credit: Télam)
What was the real case that inspired this film?
During the early hours of December 29, 2017, Pastorizzo was riding a motorcycle with his girlfriend, Nahir Galarza, through the streets of the city of Gualeguaychú, in the province of Entre Ríos.
Later that same night, he would be found alone and lifeless by a taxi driver, who called an ambulance. But it was too late.
Two shots caused the death of Fernando Pastorizzo. One of them hit him from behind. The other, from the front, when he was already lying on the ground, according to the file.
“The impact received by Fernando Pastorizzo on his back occurred when he was still on the motorcycle, standing or sitting on it, while the second shot was received when he was already fallen on his back on the ground, in the location where he finally “was found by the first people who were present at the scene,” the document quotes.
The police reported what happened to the victim’s mother, who called Galarza, the last person who had seen him alive. Here began a series of statements and contradictions that were part of a case that today remains firmly in the Argentine collective memory.
In the first instance, the young woman claimed to have found out about her boyfriend’s death through a call from her mother. She claimed to have seen him hours before his death.
However, during the night of December 29, his version of events changed completely. She appeared before the police, accompanied by a lawyer, and she confessed to having committed the murder and then left the scene on foot and went to her house.
There he presented the weapon he used to shoot Pastorizzo. It was a Browning 9 millimeter semi-automatic that belonged to his father, Marcelo Galarza, then the main officer of the Gualeguaychú Police.
On January 16, 2018, Nahir Galarza expanded his investigation and changed his story again. On that occasion she stated that her boyfriend had taken the gun from her house without her permission after a heated argument, and not her, adding that he forced her to accompany him in the vehicle.
In court, he explained that during the motorcycle trip he managed to recover the gun and that, unintentionally, he shot him twice.
“At that moment when he grabbed the motorcycle with both hands, I grabbed hold of him and took the gun from him, and I just took it from him, I have no idea how I grabbed it, and the moment I took it out, he realized and he braked the motorcycle,” says Nahir Galarza’s statement recorded in the court file, and maintains that, at that moment, “stunned,” she fired the shots accidentally.
“My mind had turned off, I wasn’t thinking about anything, I had no idea about anything, I don’t know how to explain it. I wish I could know how to explain it, how I felt, but the truth is I don’t know how. “I went home and everything was the same, everyone was sleeping, and I went to my room and stayed waiting,” declared Galarza, who added that “it didn’t even cross my mind that he was going to die,” and that he did not find out about it until receiving the call from Pastorizzo’s mother.
In his statements, Nahir Galarza insisted that the young people were not a couple at the time of the murder and remained firm in his version of the accident. This, in any case, was not enough to avoid the aggravating factors that appeared in his sentence.
On the other hand, she maintained that she was a victim of gender violence by Fernando Pastorizzo, something that could be a mitigating factor in her case.
In that sense, the file records, among other statements by Galarza, a scene in which the young people had had a serious argument at the Bikini Disco nightclub during Christmas 2017, days before the crime. He also said that at that time “they were no longer on speaking terms.”
The court, however, did not consider these testimonies and considered that there were no mitigating circumstances in the actions of the accused, as detailed in the court document.
Despite the proposals, justice ended up ruling against the person who is currently serving his sentence in Penal Unit 6 Concepción Arenal of Paraná, in Entre Ríos. On July 3, 2018, Nahir Galarza was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of “murder qualified for being a person with whom she had or has had a relationship.”
The decision was appealed, but exactly one year later the sentence was confirmed by the Superior Court of the province, so Galarza is still serving his sentence today.
In March 2019, the young woman gave an interview to the media for the first time. On that occasion, and from jail, she maintained that her trial “was not serious” and that it was marked by social condemnation.
“Everything I have said has been judged, criticized, taken out of context or distorted,” he denounced.
In that same conversation, he insisted on his version of the events: he claimed to be a victim of gender violence and maintained that the crime was an accident, although he also said he felt “too guilty” and that he would “ask for forgiveness” from Fernando Pastorizzo. In any case, he was forceful when asked about his responsibility in the events.
“If I felt responsible for what happened? I would say no. Yes, I was responsible for not having cut off the relationship when I should have, for not having made a complaint when I could have made one, for not having spoken before, for not to have told what was happening to me.
Galarza also explained that the first months of confinement in a police station were hard for her, but she emphasized that things improved when she was transferred to a penitentiary center.
“Life does not end in prison. Many people […] He believes that here everything is dark, everything horrible, like the movies and no. One here lives a normal life; She gets up at the time she wants, eats and watches television, listens to music, talks to others, drinks mate. You study you work. The only difference, the most important one, is freedom.” And in that sense she mentioned some things that she missed about her old life, like going out with her friends on the weekends.
One of his lawyers at that time, Raquel Hermida, brought the case before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and today Galarza awaits the response of the highest court.
“I appealed to the national authority. The previous lawyer had presented an extraordinary appeal before the Superior Court of Entre Ríos, but, of course, it was denied. (…) We are waiting for the resolution of that complaint that I filed in the Supreme Court,” Hermida explained to CNN.
The case took an unexpected turn in 2022 when Nahir Galarza denounced his father as the true author of the crime before a prosecutor’s office in the city of Gualeguaychú. Although, as his defender explains, that accusation remains suspended.
“The complaint was not dismissed. First we have to wait for the resolution of the Supreme Court. So, once the resolution is finished, you have to file the complaint again so that it can continue,” Hermida explained to CNN.
In any case, José Ostolaza, now Galarza’s lawyer, told CNN that this complaint “had no scaffolding” and confirms that it was indeed presented by Hermida, who at the time was a “co-defendant” with him and for a brief period. .
The lawyer, for her part, denies this and assures that she continues to be the young woman’s lawyer: “no one removed me from any case,” she clarified.
CNN tried to contact Marcelo Galarza, but so far has not gotten his reaction to the accusation. However, after learning of the complaint against him in 2022, he was consulted by the media Infobae, to which he left a forceful response: “I did not kill him.”
