This Friday, justice sentenced the City Police officer accused of having covered up the crime of Lucas González, the young man murdered by three members of the Buenos Aires force in November 2021, to five years in prison.
This is Facundo “Cachorro” Torres, who was considered guilty of having planted the utility weapon that was placed inside the car in which the victim and his friends were traveling so that the murder was confused with a “confrontation.”
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The decision was made by the Oral Criminal and Correctional Court No. 29, which carried out the case and sentenced the police officer for “concealment aggravated by his status as a public official and for the preceding crime being especially serious” and for his participation. . primary in the crime of “ideological falsehood.” Both accusations were framed “within a context of institutional violence.”
Based on the analysis of the evidence and testimonies expressed in the trial, judges Juan Ramos Padilla, Guillermo Friele and Sergio Paduczak also ruled on Torres’ special disqualification from holding public office for ten years at the national, provincial and municipal levels. . The reasons for the sentence will be announced on November 8, when more details of the reasons behind the ruling and the legal implications for the convicted officer will be known.
Likewise, the magistrates requested the Government of the City of Buenos Aires to report within ten days on the measures it will adopt regarding the recognition of Lucas González, his friends Niven Huanca Garnica, Julián Alejandro Salas and Joaquín Zuñiga Gómez, and their families as victims of institutional violence.
The young footballer murdered in November 2021 in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of BarracasThe young footballer murdered in November 2021 in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of BarracasIn the trial against Torres, the agent had apologized to the family and had denied having committed any crime.
For their part, prosecutor Sandro Abraldes and assistant prosecutor Nicolás Stivala presented the accusations against him for “concealment aggravated by his status as a public official and because the preceding crime was especially serious” and “ideological falsehood”, and they asked for 6 years in prison after highlighting that their contribution was “protagonist and preponderant” to cover up the three officers who shot at the car in which González was riding.
The trial for the murder of Lucas González has already resulted in life prison sentences for three City police officers, considered co-authors of the aggravated homicide. Six other officers from the same force received sentences of between four and eight years for various crimes.
Prosecutor Abraldes highlighted the “criminal solidarity” with which the police acted, pointing out that Torres’ role was crucial at the crime scene. According to the prosecutor, if the planted weapon had been accepted as evidence, the impunity of the police and the conviction of the young people would have been assured.
Lucas’ crime occurred on the morning of November 17, 2021, when three police officers from Brigade 6 of the Brigades and Summary Division of Commune 4 intercepted the vehicle in which González and his friends were traveling.
The officers fired at the car, and one of the projectiles hit Lucas’s head, who died the next day at the “El Cruce” hospital in Florencio Varela. Then, an operation was carried out in the area that culminated in the arrest of González’s friends. Initially, a weapon was not observed in the car, but the utility pistol was later found.
During the trial, videos and audios were presented showing the manipulation of the crime scene and communications between the police officers involved. Prosecutor Abraldes stressed that Torres’ actions, if it had not been discovered and pointed out by Cuevas, would have guaranteed the success of the police maneuver.
In addition, the judicial official mentioned that, according to rumors within the force, Torres boasted of having placed the weapon in the car.