They ask for 22 years in prison for José Alperovich for sexually abusing his niece

The trial against the former senator Joseph Alperovich, accused by his niece and former employee of nine acts of sexual abuse (three attempted and six aggravated) that occurred between 2017 and 2018, reached a key stage. This Monday the former Governor of Tucumán, 69 years old, He listened with his head down to the closing arguments.in the company of his children before the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 29.

The complaint requested a sentence of 22 years in prison. He requested the TOC that from this afternoon the accused remain under police surveillance until the sentence is handed down, and that if a conviction is handed down he be detained preventively until the ruling becomes final.

In front of Judge Juan Ramos Padilla, the complaint made up of Carolina Cymerman and Pablo Rovatti argued the request for a sentence for Alperovich. “Is guilty of all the facts of those who accuse him, the abuses were proven in all cases, we saw that the victim refused and said no, and it occurred in a context of very clear power asymmetry.

Cymerman continued: “It can be affirmed, beyond all reasonable doubt, that José Alperovich is the author of all the events that occurred in different homes located both in this city and in San Miguel de Tucumán and in Alperovich’s vehicle, in the context of daily outings (for the 2019 campaign)”.

“To commit the events, the accused used his enormous power that he held at work, family and political level throughout Tucumán. He had been elected governor three times and was, at the time of the events, national senator and honorary advisor. of the province,” the lawyer clarified in an extensive presentation of the nine indictment facts brought to trial.

He reviewed details of the statement that the complainant gave on February 5 behind closed doors for five hours, when the trial against the Tucumán politician was just beginning.

That time, the niece of the former Governor recounted the attacks suffered between the end of 2017 and mid-2018, and the path that led her to file the complaint against Alperovich at the end of 2019.

She was 27 when she came to work as his assistant while he was a senator. There was a previous family connection, because she was the daughter of Alperovich’s cousin and the granddaughter of a close friend of his.

“The testimony of the victim constitutes fundamental evidence in cases of sexual violence. Her testimony is the first proof that she is telling the truth, that she has suffered greatly as a result of the violations committed by the accused and has had the strength to report it. His anonymity was not respected, even the press spread the complaint he made in Tucumán, and showed their faces. He received offers of money even from Alperovich himself so that he would not go to trial,” Cymerman noted.

The complaint gave details of the complainant’s first trips to the City of Buenos Aires in the company of Alperovich during the month of December 2017 to discuss the issue of the budget in the National Congress. Two episodes of sexual attack were reported in an apartment in Puerto Madero. Subsequently, episodes occurred in the car of the then senator.

Cymerman expressed in this regard that although the complainant marked three, these facts “were recurring and followed. It showed the impunity with which Alperovich handled himself. Since whenever they occurred in the car, there was a third person (like the driver), and a lot of exposure.”

The other reported events that occurred during March 2018 were the worst for the victim, according to her complaint. At that time, she assumed a leading role as a private secretary, and the campaign headquarters for the 2019 elections had become located in the town of Yerba Buena, Tucumán.

The episodes happened in the afternoon, at the house of a friend of Alperovich, and lasted for approximately two hours, according to the victim’s testimony. At a subsequent gynecological consultation, A professional identified injuries on the complainantwhich, according to the complaint, did not attribute them as a result of rape, although it did not refer to them as a result of a consensual relationship.

During the following months and throughout 2019, those close to the complainant agreed on her physical deterioration. “Her hair fell out, she had sleep disorders, no one could deny that something was happening to her. By 2019, she had lost more than 10 kilos,” Cymerman narrated, taking the descriptions that the witnesses presented throughout the different hearings of the trial. .

MG