Vélez case reaches boiling point | OneFootball

Three new hearings have been completed in the case investigating the four footballers for the alleged sexual abuse of a journalist from Tucumán in March 2024. This marks a new development in a case whose final verdict is expected in March 2026.

This Friday, in Tucumán, three new hearings were completed in the so-called “Vélez Case”, which investigates an alleged sexual abuse by Sebastián Sosa, Braian Cufré, José Florentín, and Abiel Osorio against a journalist from Tucumán in March 2024.

One of the hearings, which lasted about 16 hours, was held at the request of the victim’s legal representatives, who questioned the legality of the forensic examinations performed on the cell phones of two friends of the victim who are witnesses in the case. The professionals argued that the forensic experts overstepped in the extraction of data and that for this reason, the evidence should not be considered.

This request was opposed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the case prosecutor, and assistant Osvaldo Martínez Terán, who stated that there was no illegality in the forensic examinations, as well as by the defense attorneys of the four former “Fortín” footballers.

The results of these forensic examinations were the basis for a complaint filed by José Florentín in October of this year against national deputy Carlos Cisneros, attorneys Neme and Venditti, the victim and her father, three witnesses, and an employee of La Bancaria. In the so-called “Mirror Case,” with the exception of the parliamentarian, all are being investigated for perjury and procedural fraud.

The footballers’ defense insists that there is sufficient evidence to consider that there was no sexual assault, but rather a consensual act. They emphasized that this theory is supported by the phone examinations, the psychological evaluation, and several testimonies. The plaintiff opposed this view, arguing that it is merely an interpretation of the evidence in the file and pointed to other evidence supporting the theory of abuse.

On the other hand, one of the plaintiffs reported in one of the hearings a leak of information and demanded an investigation. According to reports, videos and images from the case files, which should have remained confidential, were leaked, as is customary in the various hearings, to protect the privacy and rights of both the victim and the professionals involved.

On Tuesday, the first ruling in the case

Judge Paz Almonacid decided that next Tuesday he will issue a ruling regarding the requests made in the latest hearings: the request for exclusion of evidence by the plaintiff, as well as the request for dismissal by the footballers’ defense attorneys.

Regardless of the judge’s decision, both the plaintiff and the defense have announced that they already have grounds to appeal the ruling, and both parties have reportedly decided to take the case to the Supreme Court of Justice of Tucumán if the decision of an Appeals Court does not satisfy them.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.