Buenos Aires, November 28 (NA) -- Walter Rivero, a man accused of the sexual exploitation and facilitation of prostitution of more than 15 women in Buenos Aires bars, faces a request for an eight-year prison sentence. At the same time, a police officer was also accused of receiving bribes in exchange for providing protection for the operation of the establishments.
According to the Argentine News Agency (NA), based on information provided by Fiscales.org, the head of the General Prosecutor's Office No. 7 before the Federal Oral Courts of the Federal Capital, Miguel Ángel Osorio, and the auxiliary prosecutor Sabrina Cabrera, requested the sentence for Rivero.
Similarly, the accused worked with his late father and is accused of sexually exploiting a young woman between March 2008 and March 2011, and of promoting and facilitating the prostitution of 15 other women in three bars located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Nicolás, between March 2011 and September 2012.
The prosecution representatives requested six years in prison for an agent of the then 3rd Police Station of the Federal Police (PFA), accused of providing protection for the operation of the three establishments.
The accusing party sought to demonstrate that the accused recruited a woman—who later died after reporting the incident—through a deceptive job offer, took advantage of her vulnerable situation, took her in, and forced her to engage in prostitution to obtain economic benefits through threats, harassment, the display of power, and physical and verbal aggression.
Nevertheless, the crimes of promoting and facilitating sex work are also accredited with a total of 15 other women in three Buenos Aires bars run by the Riveros.
For his part, then-officer Cristián José Bernal—along with another accused who died during the process, Sergeant Héctor Daniel González of the 3rd PFA Police Station—received bribes to protect the operation of these establishments, for which he was considered an accomplice to the illegal activity.
Therefore, the prosecutor's office considered Walter Rivero responsible for the crimes of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, promoting and facilitating third-party prostitution, and active bribery, which concur in a real manner.
For his part, the police officer Bernal was accused as the author of the crime of passive bribery in an ideal conjunction with that of promoting and facilitating third-party prostitution, as a secondary participant.
Furthermore, they requested that 108,281,725 pesos be allocated as compensation for the victim who made the report in a personal interview with the professionals of the Rescue Program; but since the complainant died in 2011, they proposed that this amount should be intended for her daughter.
