Case overview
Fernando José Báez Sosa (2 March 2001 – 18 January 2020), an 18-year old Argentine law student, was beaten to death at the Le Brique nightclub in Villa Gesell, Buenos Aires Province, on 18 January 2020 by a group of eight from Zárate, Buenos Aires. At 10:38 a.m., all 10 members of the offender group were detained by the Provincial Police. [1]
The remaining three (Lucas Pertossi, Blas Cinalli and Ayrton Viollaz) were declared "secondary participants" and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On 10 February 2020, prosecutor Verónica Zamboni requested eight out of the ten men (Thomsen, Ciro Pertossi, Lucas Pertossi, Luciano Pertossi, Benicelli, Cinalli, Comelli and Viollaz) be held on remand, and asked for Milanesi (who had not been named by any witnesses during lineup) and Guarino (who had not taken part in the attack) to be released provisionally due to lack of evidence against them; they remained implicated in the trial on other charges until 7 April 2021, when all charges were dropped. By 4:30 a.m. the venue was overcrowded, leading one of Fernando's friends to unwittingly bump against one of the attackers, which gave way to a verbal discussion between the two groups. [2]
