The Supreme Court of Justice upheld the 14-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Ángel Fabián Constantino, the former mayor of Gilbert, a town in Entre Ríos province, for the rape of women. The decision came after the court rejected an appeal filed by his defense.
The highest tribunal, with the signatures of judges Horacio Rosatti, Carlos Rosenkrantz, and Ricardo Lorenzetti, dismissed the former official's appeal for failing to meet the formalities required in agreement 4/2007.
After being convicted in the first instance, he remained under house arrest until his appeal was rejected, at which point he was transferred to a penitentiary unit.
The Court of Appeals of Entre Ríos confirmed the sentence in August 2023, and the provincial Supreme Court of Justice rejected the extraordinary appeal in April 2024.
In this way, the sentence handed down by the Trial and Appeals Court of Gualeguaychú on March 13, 2023, became final.
Constantino was convicted for two counts of simple sexual abuse and three counts of sexual abuse with carnal access. The prosecution had requested an 18-year prison sentence, while the defense had pleaded for his acquittal.
The abuses were committed between 2018 and 2021, first when the accused was serving as Director of Culture and later as mayor, a position he assumed in 2019.
The judges determined that the acts occurred "in a clear context of workplace gender-based violence and coercive abuse of power relationships."
Among the victims is a municipal employee from the press area, who recounted that she was subjected to touching, threats, and assaults inside the town hall.
Finally, the Supreme Court dismissed the defense's complaint and left the 14-and-a-half-year prison sentence in place.
Meanwhile, he was acquitted on the grounds of reasonable doubt in a case for intentional minor injuries against a municipal employee.
The third victim was attacked in 2018, when Constantino took her to a warehouse under the pretext of giving her clothes for a ballet and raped her there.
The former mayor had denied the accusations, and after the facts became known, there were demonstrations in Gilbert demanding his suspension and even the intervention of the municipality.
Another woman reported that she suffered abuse in the former mayor's private vehicle during work-related trips during the pandemic.
