Federal police officer convicted of pepper-spraying ten-year-old girl at Congress protest
Officer Cristian Rivaldi received 15 months' suspended prison sentence and disqualification for spraying pepper gas on a minor and her mother in 2024.
Conviction for disproportionate use of force against a child during retired workers' demonstration in front of Congress
Federal police officer Cristian Miguel Rivaldi was convicted on Wednesday of spraying pepper gas at a ten-year-old girl and her mother during a protest in defence of pensioners' rights in front of Congress, according to tiempodesanjuan.com. Federal judge Daniel Rafecas imposed a sentence of one year and three months' suspended prison, costs, and special disqualification for double that time, finding him criminally responsible for breach of duties of a public official concurrently with minor injuries.
As part of the sentence, Rafecas also ordered that Rivaldi must establish a fixed residence and remain under the supervision of the Directorate of Control and Assistance for Criminal Sentence Execution.
The events of 11 September 2024
The incident, known in the media as the Fabrizia case, occurred on 11 September 2024 in the vicinity of Congress. According to the prosecution, Rivaldi used the dispersal aerosol he had been assigned and sprayed the minor and her mother, Carla Pegoraro, whilst both were sitting on the ground without assaulting any officer or resisting.
Pegoraro stated that she and her daughter were peaceful during the demonstration when they were sprayed. "I want to clarify that both my daughter and I were gassed, and it caused us severe eye irritation, headache, scalp pain and pain throughout our bodies," she stated. Other people present at the location assisted them and applied milk to alleviate the irritation.
The medical records from Santa Lucía Ophthalmological Hospital showed that Fabrizia was treated on 13 September 2024 with a diagnosis of "chemical conjunctivitis". In the discharge report, the phrase "they threw pepper gas on me" was recorded.
Footage, central to the trial
The trial was presided over by judge Rafecas and took place over a single day. Expert opinions were submitted and two defence witnesses testified before the guilty verdict was delivered.
One of the decisive elements of the prosecution was the audiovisual recordings from that day, which made it possible to identify the officer and reconstruct the sequence of events. Federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano, who advanced the case together with plaintiff's lawyer Gregorio Dalbón—representing the victims—argued in his brief of 21 October 2025 that Rivaldi had sprayed the victims "in an excessive and unjustified manner, and at a short distance".
According to the prosecutor's analysis, the videos showed that Rivaldi not only aimed at a man carrying a cane, but also directed the aerosol towards the mother and child, seated on the asphalt. Taiano further noted that the officer was wearing his helmet's plastic visor partially raised, which gave him "greater and clearer visibility of the surroundings and of the people who were there". For this reason, the prosecutor concluded that Rivaldi had activated the device "with full knowledge and intention of what he was doing". "The images speak for themselves," Taiano had stated.
The prosecutor highlighted that, after receiving gas to the face, the child instinctively covered herself, and that on the back of her mother's blue jacket a mark from the spray could be observed.
The officer's defence, rejected by the prosecution
Rivaldi had stated during the investigation that he had not noticed the minor's presence and that, had he seen her, he would have intervened to protect her. "If I had seen a child among the rioters I would have removed her from there to prevent her from being injured," he stated.
The Prosecution rejected that version on the grounds that it found no support in the footage. Taiano argued that the protocol for use of non-lethal weapons requires applying "the minimum force necessary and sufficient" and that regulations establish special attention when children, pregnant women or older adults are present in the area. For the prosecutor, none of those conditions justified the officer's conduct: the child and her mother posed no threat whatsoever. "The use of force by Rivaldi was excessive and disproportionate," he had concluded.
Sentence and procedural background
The Federal Court had previously confirmed Rivaldi's processing without preventative detention and with a seizure of 500,000 pesos. The prosecution had originally been advanced on grounds of abuse of authority concurrently with minor injuries; Rafecas ultimately delivered conviction on the grounds of breach of duties of a public official concurrently with minor injuries, with a sentence of one year and three months' suspended prison and special disqualification for double the sentencing period.
Plaintiff's lawyer Dalbón published on his X account: "It was not an excess nor an accident: it was a directed spray, at short distance, against two people who posed no danger whatsoever. The videos and expert opinions from the National Gendarmerie proved this, and the court understood it that way. This is the first oral trial for the repression of protest during the Milei government, and it ended in conviction. A uniform is not a licence to hurt."
Source: Google News PR — San Juan