The murder of an 18-year-old young man leaving a nightclub had deeply affected Argentina.

Life imprisonment was requested on Wednesday against eight young Argentinian rugby players aged 21 to 23 for this fatal beating three years ago.

"I ask that they be sentenced to life imprisonment as co-authors of a doubly aggravated homicide" because committed in a meeting and with premeditation, said Wednesday one of the prosecutors, Juan Manuel Davila, in his indictment to the court of Dolores, 220 km south of Buenos Aires.

After the defense arguments on Thursday, the verdict is expected on January 31.

On January 18, 2020 in the early morning, a fight broke out in a nightclub in Villa Gesell (370 km from Buenos Aires), a seaside resort popular with young people, in the middle of summer vacation.

"Kill that shit nigger!"

»

The protagonists had been quickly expelled by the bouncers, but soon after in the street the confrontation resumed.

Fernando Baez Sosa, an 18-year-old law student, was unbalanced, then, on the ground, beaten and kicked by a group of student players from a small amateur rugby club in Zarate, 90 km from Buenos Aires .

He had died of cardiac arrest following his brain damage.

“They formed a circle around Fernando Baez Sosa.

They all hit him, and when they didn't, they prevented anyone from helping him,” prosecutor Davila continued.

As the group emanated the cry "Kill that shitty nigger!"

“, according to several witnesses, he added.

A shared "will to kill"

Fernando Burlando, the lawyer for the civil party family, also asked for life for all, for a "willingness to kill" shared according to him by "everyone, absolutely everyone", with "synchronized coordination".

"A carnage that lasted about fifty seconds, the time it took them to beat Fernando to death."

The trial, for three weeks, has literally magnetized the Argentine media, to the extent of the emotion it aroused at the time, leading to demonstrations in several cities, including Villa Gesell and the capital Buenos Aires.

The drama had put the finger on several cracks in Argentine society, affecting in particular racism - the victim was the son of Paraguayan immigrants -, class discrimination - Fernando came from a modest background, his attackers from the middle class - , but also the ordinary violence of young alcoholics, and the relationship to masculinity.

Rugby, in particular, had been singled out, for certain parts of its culture, marked by virile solidarity which could drift to group violence.

Renowned rugby players had spoken since the crime.

Among them the ex-captain of the Argentine selection Agustin Pichot (71 selections), who in a moving self-criticism, had criticized his sport, over time, "for having normalized bad things",

Sport

Argentina: "We're going to kill you, shitty scum" ... Eight rugby players imprisoned after beating a young man to death

Miscellaneous facts

Saumur: A suspect in detention after the fatal beating of a sexagenarian

  • World

  • Argentina

  • Rugby

  • Murder

  • Miscellaneous facts