It’s over. That’s it. Expression. C’est fini. I have freed myself. What else? After nine years and one complaint. Statements, psychological tests, round trips to police stations, prosecutors, national courts. One file: 500 pages. Two lawyers. A lawyer. A judicial commission. therapy for 15 years. half my life My whole family is divided into two parts. A city that covers up the perpetrator. Seven years of writing workshops. Published two books: Why Did You Come Back Every Summer and Where I Can’t Stand It. Finally. Finally, on December 19, came the court hearing. And five days later the verdict. The Judge’s Verdict. An abbreviated process that I kept fighting not to testify for, at the risk of losing everything. And now I’ll say it well, with all the names I couldn’t say once: Claudio Sarlo, former commissioner of the Province of Buenos Aires, uncle by marriage, father of a family, sexually abused me when I was a girl and was vacationing in Santa Lucía, the city where my mother was born. He sexually abused me when I didn’t know what love was.
“In the Municipality of San Nicolás de los Arroyos, on December 26, 2022, taking into account the result reached on the issues previously discussed and the agreement reached by the parties, on the basis of the provisions of Article 399, second paragraph of the CPP, It is decided that to impose the following sentence: I.- Condemnation of Claudio Marcelino Sarlo as perpetrator criminally responsible for the crimes of serious insult of sexual abuse aggravated by the perpetrator’s responsibility for guarding and committing a minor under 18 years of age , who repeatedly takes advantage of the already existing situation of living with her, in ideal competition with the crime of aggravated bribery committed by a person responsible for her guardianship, within the meaning of Articles 45, 54, 119 first and paragraph 2, aggravated by those referred to in paragraph 4, sections b) and f) and 125 paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code circumstances provided for, under penalty of 10 years imprisonment and abetting a Article 12 of the above legal entity, with prohibition to maintain contact with the victim”.
I didn’t know if it was necessary or not to write this. But I wanted to do it myself before someone else does. Return to writing to turn the page. Back where I found repair.
For everyone who couldn’t speak or denounce. To me.
From now on I dedicate myself to writing something else.
Belen Lopez Peiro she is an author. His latest book is Where I Don’t Stand (Lumen).
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