Buenos Aires, April 1 (NA) — Nine years have passed since the femicide of Micaela García, the 21-year-old young woman who was sexually abused and murdered in April 2017 upon leaving a nightclub in the city of Gualeguay, Entre Ríos. This case led to the Micaela Law, while a new trial against one of the accused is awaited.
The victim was a militant of the Evita Movement in her province and participated in several Ni una menos demonstrations to demand an end to gender-based violence and femicides.
Sebastián Wagner, García's former partner, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of “triply qualified homicide by treachery and criminal cause aggravated by gender-based violence.” Meanwhile, Néstor Pavón received five years in prison for “aggravated cover-up.”
Wagner confessed during the trial to the authorship of the young woman's rape and pointed to Pavón as responsible for the murder, but his version was not accepted by the tribunal, which declared him responsible for both acts. Additionally, the judges confirmed the acquittal of Gabriel Otero, who is the son of Wagner's partner, and who had arrived at the trial under house arrest.
The Superior Tribunal of Justice of Entre Ríos ordered a second oral and public trial, considering him a co-author of the crime perpetrated in 2017. Pavón filed a recourse that questioned the validity of trying him again and alleged a violation of the principle of ne bis in idem, which states that a person cannot be judged or sanctioned twice for the same fact once there is a final judgment on that case.
However, both the Provincial General Prosecutor's Office and the intervening courts maintained that this argument “lacks foundation,” since there is no final conviction on his responsibility and that the previous resolution presented “essential flaws” in the assessment of the evidence. Pavón had been sentenced in 2019 to five years in prison for aggravated cover-up, a ruling that was later annulled by the Court of Appeals of Entre Ríos and later reviewed by the Supreme Court, which in 2024 ordered a new trial with a gender perspective, upon detecting inconsistencies in the way key elements of the case were analyzed.
According to recent rulings, these shortcomings enabled Pavón to be subjected to the oral debate again, this time accused of kidnapping, sexual abuse with carnal access and aggravated homicide as a co-author, more serious charges than those in the original file.
With this rejection, the case moves forward towards the formation of the tribunal that will conduct the trial.
Micaela Law The Micaela Law, which was enacted on January 10, 2019, provides for mandatory training in gender and gender-based violence for all people serving in the public function in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the Nation, with the objective of transforming each public policy.
