On Monday, March 16, Judge María Julia Correa of the Federal, Contraventional, and Misdemeanor Court, Court No. 28 of Buenos Aires, sentenced four protesters to six months in prison, suspended. This ruling, according to the defense, is political and provides judicial backing to the criminalization of social protests that President Javier Milei seeks to implement in the country since taking office. Lawyer Silvia Pelozo stated that this will be the first trial against activists under Milei's government and will be a landmark case showing how the far-right applies the criminalization of protests and what results it yields. She explained that throughout the trial, the defendants' innocence was proven. Police testimonies were contradictory, and the only evidence for the prosecution was their verbal account. The defense demonstrated 'negative certainty'—certainty that the actions described by the police were not taking place. Evidence includes hours of video footage showing that protesters were not throwing stones or bottles as claimed by law enforcement. There was only a 14-second gap in the footage, but the rest of the protesters' time was well-documented. Moreover, one of the protesters was playing a flute at the time, making it impossible for him to have participated in the alleged disturbances. The sentence will not be effective due to the penalty's severity and will be appealed by the defendants' defense.
