Buenos Aires, March 9 (NA) – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the Argentine state this Monday for the death of Marcelita Iglesias, the 6-year-old girl who died on February 5, 1996, after being crushed by an iron sculpture on the Paseo de la Infanta.
“We are satisfied that we were able to achieve justice for Marcela and the sentence,” expressed Nora Ribaudo, the victim's mother, in a conversation with the Argentine News Agency.
According to the ruling issued on November 26 of last year, the court declared the Republic of Argentina responsible for “having failed to properly regulate, supervise, and oversee the installation of an iron sculpture” that caused the girl's death.
In this sense, the IACtHR ordered the state to “pay the parents the amount established in the sentence for medical and psychological treatment expenses” (rehabilitation measure), and to create a memorial and recreational space for children and adolescents. If Ribaudo and Eduardo Iglesias accept, it must be carried out within a two-year period.
Furthermore, other norms established in the resolution state that it will have to make a “compilation of the applicable legislation on the subject of the case and make it permanently available to the public on the website of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Government” (non-repetition guarantees), while also ordering the payment of compensatory damages (fixed amounts set in the Sentence for material and immaterial damages).
Meanwhile, lawyer Laura Del Cerro spoke with NA and stated: “This ruling has a very important social value.”
The case was initiated against sculptor Danilo Dazinger; Mauricio Lowenstein and Diana Lia de Lowenstein, owners of the Der Brücke Gallery; Nelly Perazzo, coordinator of the contest during which the work was built; and three former officials for the crimes of homicide and negligent injuries. However, in 2005, Judge María Nocetti considered that the case took too long to be brought to trial, for which reason she prescribed the statute of limitations.
From that moment on and for years, Marcelita's parents carried out various presentations to appeal the ruling and achieve that the accused be judged, but all received negative responses.
