Argentina convicts man for transfemale killing

BUENOS AIRES: A court in Argentina has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing a transsexual leader, the first hate crime conviction for targeting a trans female. The court in Buenos Aires sentenced Gabriel David Marino, 25, to life imprisonment as co-author of “aggravated homicide due to gender violence and hatred of gender identity,” according to the ruling broadcast live by the Judicial Information Center. The defendant, who allegedly stabbed the victim 13 times, sat stone-faced as he listened to the sentence being read.

The stabbing attack occurred in October 2015 and resulted in the death of Amnacay Diana Sacayan, 40. For the prosecution and the plaintiff, it was a “historic sentence” since the judicial branch recognized that the murder of Sacayan “was a crime of hatred and prejudice” stemming from her gender identity, they said in a statement. Trans activist Lara Bernasconi said that “this conviction broke the legal rule book.”