Justice accuses six of gang rape in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES (AP) — The Argentine justice has formally accused six young people between the ages of 20 and 24 who have been detained since the end of February for the gang rape of a young woman in broad daylight in a tourist neighborhood in Buenos Aires, in one of the cases of sexist violence with the greatest social impact in recent times.

Criminal and Correctional Judge Marcos Fernández prosecuted 20-year-old Steven Alexis Cuzzoni, age 21; Ignacio Retondo, 22; Angel Pascual Ramos, 23; Lautaro Dante Ciongo Pasotti and Franco Jesús Lykan, both 24, for the crimes of “sexual abuse with carnal access, aggravated by the intervention of two or more persons”, according to the ruling.

The incident occurred on February 28 and had a strong social impact because the aggressors raped a 20-year-old girl inside a car on the afternoon of a holiday in the Palermo Soho neighborhood, which is very popular with tourists and locals as the area stands out for restaurants, bars and designer shops.

The 20-year-old victim was rescued by neighbors who warned the situation and called the police, who arrested the aggressors.

The young woman, whose identity did not transcend, recognized the six accused and declared to justice that the act was not consensual. He said that he had met the assailants in a disco early that day, that they then shared a beer and that he did not remember what had happened next.

Toxicological tests revealed the presence of marijuana, methamphetamines and amphetamines in the body of the victim, who only acknowledged having consumed the first. Justice suspects that the defendants had mixed the drugs in a drink they gave to the young woman to accomplish their task.

“They have acted on the basis of a previous plan with division of tasks,” said Judge Fernández. “This allows the totality of the common work to be attributed to them, beyond the fact that any of the accused had not carried out the described conduct of his own hand”, in reference to abuse.

While the studies carried out on the aggressors showed the presence of cocaine and psychotropic drugs.

The outrage over this case was evident on March 8, when the massive mobilization in downtown Buenos Aires to coincide with International Women's Day had as one of the main axes the demand for justice against abusers.

In case of conviction, young people could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.