Five sentenced to life and another three to 15 years in prison for the murder of a young man in Argentina

Eight friends between the ages of 21 and 23, colleagues in a small rugby club in an Argentine province, heard today the sentence for the crime of a young man, beaten to death three years ago outside a nightclub in Argentina.

The court handed down five life sentences and another three sentences to 15 years in prison for the crime of the young Fernando Báez Sosa in a case that shocked society.

The verdict was read in a courtroom in the city of Dolores (220 km from Buenos Aires) in the presence of the victim’s parents and the eight young rugby players convicted of doubly aggravated homicide in a trial that began on 2 last January.

The crime of law student Fernando Báez Sosa occurred on January 18, 2020 at the Villa Gesell spa.

Máximo Thomsen, Ciro Pertossi, Matías Benicelli, Luciano Pertossi and Enzo Comelli were sentenced to life imprisonment. In addition, Blas Cinalli, Lucas Pertossi and Ayrton Viollaz received 15 years in prison. All were accused of aggravated homicide by treachery and premeditated contest.

What happened in January 2020

In the southern summer of 2020, the defendants vacationed in Villa Gesell (370 kilometers south of Buenos Aires), a city on the Argentine Atlantic coast that is very popular with young people. That night they were kicked out of a nightclub where a fight had started.

In the street, the rugbiers isolated Báez Sosa, 18, and attacked him with their fists and kicks, in a beating that caused him death from multiple injuries.

The eight rugby players, all from the small town of Zárate, near Buenos Aires, arrested on the day of the crime, have been in preventive detention since 2020. The lawyer for all of them, Hugo Tomei, remarked that it will never be possible to know who killed the young man.

they cry repentant

During the arguments, the defendants, at times in tears, had expressions such as “I apologize”, “I apologize”, “there was no intention to kill”, “there was no plan (to kill)” and “I am sorry”.

Báez Sosa was the son of a caregiver for the elderly and a bricklayer, both Paraguayan immigrants. He had started a law career, after graduating from a Catholic parochial school and doing charity work.

His crime triggered a series of demonstrations of repudiation and support for the family, with intense debates about alcohol consumption by young people, the construction of masculinity, xenophobia and racism in this country that identifies itself as descendants of of European immigrants.

Rugby in Argentina is amateur and historically it is the middle and upper class sectors that practice it or attend matches. (YO)