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The murder of Natalia Mariel Melmann, a 15-year-old Argentine student, occurred on 4 February 2001, in Miramar, Buenos Aires. [1] Five police officers were found guilty of her kidnap, torture, rape and murder. [1]
The brutality of the case gained national attention. [2]
Gustavo Daniel “El Gallo” Fernández, a 30-year-old ex-convict with ties to Miramar police, kidnapped her. She was taken by police officers from Miramar, later named as Corporals Ricardo Alfredo Suárez, Ricardo Anselmini and First Sergeant Óscar Alberto Echenique, to a cabin on the outskirts of the city. There she would be the victim of torture, rape, and finally murdered with a shoe lace.
The discovery of the body unleashed fury in the local population. Added to the fact of which the police were involved in the case, the town reacted. 6,000 people stoned the police station, almost completely destroying the building. [3]
In September 2002, the trial against Suárez, Anselmini and Echenique began, where they were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. For his part, Fernández was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crime of kidnapping, although years were added to his sentence for another previous crime. [3]
In 2018, the journalist Constanza Marina Sagula made a 42-minute documentary showing the struggle of the Melmann family and friends following the murder. [4]
Jorge Rafael Videla was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and de facto President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. His reign, which was during the time of Operation Condor, was among the most infamous in Latin America during the Cold War, due to its high level of human rights abuses and severe economic mismanagement.
GAL were death squads illegally established by officials of the Spanish government to fight against ETA, the principal Basque separatist militant group. They were active from 1983 until 1987, under the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE)-led governments. At trial, it was proven that they were financed by important officials within the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. The Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo played an important role in revealing the plot when it ran a comprehensive series of articles on the matter.
Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping, the United States Congress passed a federal kidnapping statute—known as the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1) —which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had crossed state lines with their victim. The act became law in 1932. In 1934, the act was amended to provide exception for parents who abduct their own minor children and made a death sentence possible in cases where the victim was not released unharmed.
José Luis Cabezas was an Argentine news photographer and reporter who worked for Noticias, a leading local newsmagazine. Cabezas gained notoriety after he was kidnapped and killed by people hired by Alfredo Yabrán in retaliation for having taken a photo of him in Pinamar –a seaside resort in Atlantic Coast– in February 1996. The photo, which displayed Yabrán and his wife, was published on the cover of Noticias magazine in March 1996, unveiling Yabrán's face to public.
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Mario Augusto Poggi Estremadoyro was a Peruvian psychologist, artist, sculptor and humorist. He became well known for killing an alleged serial killer in 1986; he was arrested for the murder and sentenced to seven years in prison, but was released in 1991 after serving around five years.
Events in the year 2021 in Argentina.
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