Camila López (13), Danilo Sansone (13), Gonzalo Domínguez (14) and Aníbal Suárez (22), victims of the “El Monte Massacre”.
Four Buenos Aires policemen began to be tried this Monday by a popular jury accused of the so-called “Monte Massacre”, in which four boys died on May 20, 2019 after a police pursuit of shots and a crash.
Judicial sources confirmed to Télam that the process will be in charge of Judge Carolina Crispiani, head of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) 4 of La Plata, and It will extend over ten consecutive days, so its completion is scheduled for May 17.
In the dock of the accused will be the officers Leonardo Daniel Ecilape, Manuel Monreal and Mariano Alejandro Ibáñez and the former captain of the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires, Rubén Alberto García.
All of them arrive detained at the debate and are the ones who were on board the patrol cars that followed the Fiat 147 in which Camila López (13), Danilo Sansone (13), Gonzalo Domínguez (14) and Aníbal Suárez (22) were traveling. and Rocío Quagliariello (17).
Photo: Victoria Gesualdi – Archive.
As a result of this pursuit, the car in which the adolescents and the young man were traveling collided with a trailer that was stopped on the road and four of them died as a result of the impact, except Rocío, who survived.
The trial prosecutor will be Mariano Sibuet, while the complaint will be divided into three parts: attorney Dora Bernardez will represent the Domínguez and Suárez families; Margarita Jarque, from the Provincial Commission for Memory (CPM), will sponsor the Sansone and López families; while the lawyer Ricardo Minoli will accompany the Quagliarello family.
“The flame of memory”, a stove in the square of San Miguel del Monte
Relatives of the victims of the “Monte Massacre” and Human Rights organizations called for a bonfire this Monday in the main square of the town of San Miguel del Monte to keep burning “the flame of memory” on the day that four Buenos Aires policemen will begin to be tried for the fact.
The call is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in front of the municipality of the aforementioned town in the province of Buenos Aires, in the so-called Plaza de lxs pibes, named in that way since it was the place where Gonzalo Domínguez (14), Aníbal Suárez (22), Danilo Sansone (13) and Camila López ( 13) used to meet and spend their free time.
“Bring your firewood for the stove… Let’s keep the fire of memory lit together. Love will burn and it will be justice”pointed out the invitation to the event.
In turn, the concentration will feature the following musical artists: Orne Aikén y los fueguitos combativos; Sergio Mackinze; and trashy.
The aforementioned CPM and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) will also act as institutional complainants, while the Undersecretary of Human Rights of the Province of Buenos Aires appeared before the TOC 4 under the figure of “friends of the court” and will be an observer of the debate.
The first hearing began at 10 in the courts of La Platalocated on Calle 56 between 7 and 8, in which the election of 18 members of civil society that will make up the popular jury will take place, 12 of which will be the headlines and then the opening arguments will be made.
Within 10 days, the dozen chosen jurors must define whether or not the defendants are guilty of having committed the crime of “aggravated homicide due to abuse of duty as a member of the police forces qualified for the use of firearms, and violation of the duties of a public official”.
The Buenos Aires Undersecretary of Human Rights received relatives of the victims of the “Monte Massacre”
The Buenos Aires Undersecretary for Human Rights received relatives of the “Monte Massacre”, prior to the start of the oral trial of the four of the police officers accused of shooting and chasing the car in which the victims were circulating on May 20, 2019 , a case in which the body presented itself as a “friend of the court”.
The meeting took place in the last few hours, when Undersecretary Matías Moreno received in the city of La Plata a Susana Rios -mother of Gonzalo Domínguez (14)-, to Blanca Suarez -mother of Aníbal Suárez (22)-, already Gladys Ruíz Díaz and Juan Carlos Sansone -parents of Danilo Sansone (13)-.
“We received the accompaniment and they made themselves available”said Susana Ríos about the meeting.
As reported by the provincial Human Rights Undersecretary in a statement, the director of Policies against Institutional Violence, Ignacio Álvarez, and the Director of Accompaniment for Groups in Vulnerable Situations, Eliana Morrone, also participated in the meeting.
In addition, sources from the agency indicated that the Undersecretary appeared before the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) 4 of La Plata under the figure of “friends of the court”at the same time that she will be an observer of the trial against the police officers Rubén García, Leonardo Ecilape, Manuel Monreal and Mariano Ibáñez, which will begin next Monday.
Gonzalo Domínguez’s mother said that “they should take this case as a murder of innocent children”
“I need the Justice to take this case for what it is: a murder of innocent children. And with treachery, because they shot at the car. A bullet impact was lodged in my son’s body, “said Susana Ríos in dialogue with the press in front of the La Plata courts, located on Calle 8 between 56 and 57.
There, the woman stated that the four accused police officers began to shoot the Fiat 147 in which her son was traveling along with Camila López (13), Danilo Sansone (13), Aníbal Suárez (22) and Rocío Quagliariello (17), the only survivor, since “they thought the boys were filming them.”
“They followed a 147 that was going very slowly, walking, for two kilometers shooting at least twelve times. Evidently the boys passed through a place where I don’t know what the Police were doing. I imagine what it was… for me that was the reason “, highlighted Rios.
Relatives of the victims continue the demand for justice / Photo: Victoria Gesualdi – File.
Susana then added: “When one thinks of a persecution, one thinks that they were going to 100, but they were not going to 100. Why couldn’t they stop a Fiat 147 with such trucks? Obviously they are murderers.”
At his side, Blanca Suárez, Aníbal’s mother, said that she traveled from the province of Misiones to witness the jury trial: “With a lot of effort I got here. This day is what we expected. May the justice that Aníbal deserves arrive. Let it be perpetual for the four of them,” he concluded.
What Danilo Sansone’s father said
“We want them to tell us why they did what they did. They have to pay. To this day we do not know why they began to persecute them, I would like to ask them, they never told us anything,” Juan Carlos Sansone said in statements to the press made at the door of the courts located on Calle 8, between 56 and 57, where after the selection of the popular juries will begin the debate that has the four Buenos Aires police officers accused of murder.
“We are not afraid of them because we never did anything to them. Instead, they did harm to us,” Juan Carlos added.who said that he and his family arrive “very tired” and that they have “a big backpack behind.”
“The only thing we want is justice. For Dani and for all the other boys. Words don’t come out much. They are not going to return our son to us anymore, but it is a little relief for us that there is justice. All the town and all Argentina wants the same thing,” he concluded.
Before, also at the door of the courts, Susana Ríos, mother of Gonzalo Domínguez, another of the murdered adolescents, asked the Justice to take “this case as a murder of innocent children.”
Susana Ríos, mother of Gonzalo Domínguez / Photo: Victoria Gesualdi – Archive.
“I need Justice to take this case for what it is: a murder of innocent children. And with treachery, because they shot at the car. A bullet impact was lodged in my son’s body”the woman said.
Ríos stated that the four accused police officers began shooting at the Fiat 147 in which his son was traveling along with Camila López (13), Danilo Sansone (13), Aníbal Suárez (22) and Rocío Quagliariello (17), the only survivor, since that they “thought the guys were filming them.”
“They followed a 147 that was going very slowly, walking, for two kilometers, firing at least twelve times. Evidently the boys passed through a place where I don’t know what the Police were doing. I imagine what it was… for me that was the reason,” said Ríos.
How the case continues
The “Monte Massacre” is unfolded and another 19 Buenos Aires policemen will go to another trial -in this case without a popular jury- “for aggravated concealment, breach and violation of the duties of a public official”, although a date for the beginning of that debate has not yet been stipulated.
The so-called “San Miguel del Monte Massacre” It happened at dawn on May 20, 2019, when members of the police station of that Buenos Aires city chased a Fiat 147 along the highway 3 collector in which four teenagers were traveling, three 13-year-olds and one 14-year-old. , along with a young man of 22.
The day of the event, The five boys were listening to music when Buenos Aires police officers began to chase them for no reason. and, according to the records of the security cameras of the municipality, to shoot them, since he observed a policeman in the place of the patrol companion, with half his body outside and in a shooting attitude.
As a result, the car in which the young people were traveling collided with a trailer that was stopped on the road.
