Hear
The former governor of Tucumán Joseph Alperovich He said that he would not exercise the right to speak his “last words” in the trial against him for the alleged sexual abuse of his niece and former secretary. Today, at 8 p.m., the judge Juan Ramos Padilla will announce his verdict.
Alperovich, who was governor of Tucumán between 2003 and 2015, arrived at the court accompanied by his children. As he did during the trial, he sat in the courtroom and clutched a medal with Hebrew text given to him by a rabbi friend.
1:15 p.m. arrived and the judge entered a few minutes later. It was a brief hearing: Ramos Padilla asked him if he would use the “last words” that the Code grants to every accused before his fate is decided and he said no. The judge then announced that the trial would resume at 8 p.m., for the verdict.
It is the end of a process that began five years ago. Last week, in a very harsh final argument, the prosecutor Sandro Abraldes defined this case as “a trial on the impunity of power” and asked that the former governor be sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison. The prosecutor accused him of repeated abuse on 10 occasions.
The victim’s lawyer, the plaintiff, requested a sentence of 22 years in prison. Alperovich’s defense, on the other hand, requested his acquittal and argued that the complaint had a political motive.
The prosecutor’s argument had been very harsh. “Alperovich didn’t want her to work with him. I wanted it for the bed. The concept is primitive. The feudal lord rules. You can’t argue with the big boss. He does what he wants,” Abraldes said. The prosecutor was very critical of what was happening in Tucumán society at the time of the events: “This trial is a trial on the impunity of power. She was in a submission scenario. “In a situation of captivity.”
“The victim felt like a prisoner and was at the mercy of the abuser,” she said, adding “as several witnesses said, Alperovich was always sexualized”. Comparing Alperovich’s total power in his province to a feudal lord he said: “Alperovich was the builder of his own power. Everything was done the way he wanted. He owned everything.”
Abrales demanded that Alperovich pay with his “ambulatory freedom” Why did he do it”.
The former senator is 69 years old. If he were convicted, at 70 he could ask to serve his sentence under house arrest. In that case, it will be the judge who decides whether or not he grants you this benefit.
The former governor of Tucumán (he chained three consecutive terms, between 2003 and 2015) and former national senator came to this trial accused of three acts of sexual abuse (two, attempted) and another six acts of sexual violence aggravated by having carnal access. The alleged events occurred both in Tucumán and in the city of Buenos Aires.
The Oral Criminal and Correctional Court No. 29 carried out the trial, with the judge Ramos Padilla in front individually. The prosecutor Abraldes The Attorney General’s Office is temporarily in charge of the Oral Criminal and Correctional Courts No. 27. The representatives of the complaint were Pablo Rovatti and Carolina Cymerman.
Last week, Alperovich testified for seven hours before Ramos Padilla and denied having abused the young woman. “Absolutely nothing happened,” said the former Tucumán president. “Do not abuse Flor. That is a lie. The truth is that I am a 70-year-old man,” added the accused, who remarked: “This is a fabricated, armed trial, where I am clearly going to explain to you that there was an economic and political motive, of that I have no doubt.”
In his statement, the accused also denied having a close relationship with the complainant. “I never called her niece, nor did she call me uncle. Never. She wants to establish that I was a prostitute for the secretary. All this is set up. For five years in the press she has called me violin,” he stated before the judge.
Among the evidence that was revealed in the case, in addition to the victim’s testimony, there are expert reports about her, testimonies from people who knew her situation firsthand and the contents of the victim’s cell phone, with messages from him.
The sentence will only be final once the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has rejected Alperovich’s last appeal.
THE NATION
