Diego Javier Clementi (behind in the photo), the accused owner of the private clinic in Burzaco / Photo: Daniel Dabove.
The Judge of Guarantees No. 4 of Lomas de Zamora, Sebastián Ariel Monelos, granted exemption from prison to the gynecologist Diego Javier Clementi, prosecuted for the sexual abuse of 14 women, events that occurred during medical consultations, and prohibited him from seeing patients for 90 days .
In the ruling to which Télam had access, Monelos ordered that the doctor must appear every 20 days in court, and prohibited him “temporarily from attending face-to-face patients” for 90 days or “until the Ministry of Health of the province of Buenos Aires or the Medical College of the province of Buenos Aires is issued in this regard”.
On April 30, Télam announced this judicial case, and from that moment he tried to contact, without success, the Medical Association.
Furthermore, the magistrate He was prohibited from leaving the country. also for a period of 90 days.
In his decision, the judge lists the complaints from 14 women that constitute case No. 07-00-009.312-17/00.
“I do not warn at the moment that, if the defendant remains free, there are certain dangers of frustration of the purposes of the process, since Clementi is subject to it. He has a known fixed address, and has appeared on different occasions throughout of the process,” said the judge in the ruling.
The crimes for which Clementi is prosecuted are “sexual abuse with carnal access committed repeatedly”, “grossly outrageous sexual abuse, with carnal access”, “seriously outrageous sexual abuse” y “simple sexual abuse”.
The judge also considered that “without prejudice to the seriousness of the accusation” the prosecutor can continue with the evidentiary measures with the gynecologist released.
Clementi is the medical director of the Burzaco Women’s Medical Center, and the first complaint against him was filed in 2017, but the facts that came to light through patient testimonies date back to the year 2000.
In it Hospital Evita de Lanúswhere he was head of service, he was preventively terminated of patient care “until the Justice determines its responsibility in the reported cases,” spokespersons for that health center told Télam.
In Argentinaat least 10 gynecologists were denounced or convicted in the last 5 years for these crimes, the case of the San Juan doctor Carlos Martínez being paradigmatic, who in 2019 received a 21-year prison sentence for having abused 17 patients.
Along with following the case, the concern that arose as part of the journalistic coverage was to identify whether this type of violence is contemplated in protocols or action guides, both at the level of public organizations and professional associations.
The search at the local level and even in countries of the region was negative, but in Europe they began to deal with the issue.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe defined gynecological violence in a medical consultation with sexist actions or sayings, humiliation or physical violence during physical examinations, and there are organizations and bodies that have begun to address the issue.
