Trial of "Pity" Álvarez: six witnesses testify about the homicide in Villa Lugano
Six doctors and experts testify on Wednesday in the oral trial against Cristian "Pity" Álvarez, accused of killing Cristian Díaz in 2018.
Experts and doctors take the stand in the "Pity" Álvarez case
Six witnesses—doctors and experts who submitted reports in the case file—appeared on Wednesday at the oral and public trial against Cristian "Pity" Álvarez, accused of shooting and killing Cristian Maximiliano Díaz four times on 12 July 2018 in the Cardenal Samoré residential complex in Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires. According to cadena3.com, the hearing took place from 10 o'clock onwards at Criminal and Correctional Oral Court No. 29 in Buenos Aires, before judges Gustavo Goerner, Alejo Ramos Padilla and Hugo Navarro.
Sebastián Queijeiro, one of the new defence lawyers for the former leader of Viejas Locas and Intoxicados, confirmed to the Argentine News Agency that the testimonies of the witnesses are of special importance for the defence strategy. "It will be important for us, for example, to know whether this person died from the first shot or which of the shots was the one that caused his death. Why? Because if it was the first shot that killed this person, that would be self-defence. If it was the other shots, it could already be an excess of self-defence. It will change somewhat the direction in which we could frame that in our final arguments," the lawyer explained.
Queijeiro has a previous connection to the case: he had previously represented Álvarez and later withdrew from his defence, before resuming the role alongside Javier Ignacio Baños, former prosecutor for Morón.
An initial setback for the defence
In the previous day of the trial, the judges rejected two motions filed by the defence: the request to annul the proceedings and the holding of a trial by popular jury. Both rejections constituted an initial setback for the Queijeiro and Baños team.
The facts of the case
The prosecution contends that Álvarez fired four times at Díaz in the Cardenal Samoré complex. Following the incident, according to the investigation's reconstruction, he discarded the weapon in a sewer and travelled to the nightclub Pinar de Rocha in Ramos Mejía, Buenos Aires province. Subsequently he turned himself in to the authorities and declared to the press: "I killed him because it was him or me, and I believe any animal would do the same."
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires