ARGENTINA: Trial for five men accused in the murder of two French tourists underway

Record ID: 194489

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Trial for five men accused in the murder of two French tourists underway
  • Date: 25th March 2014
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINE THAT READS "TRIAL FOR MURDERED FRENCH WOMEN BEGINS"
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVYUHPWEIIIV7BJVMZWE09P1A
  • Story Text: The trial of the three Argentine men accused in the 2011 murder of two French tourists started on Tuesday (March 25) in the northern Argentine city of Salta.
    Three men, Santos Clemente Vera, 38, Daniel Vilte Laxi, 24, and Gustavo Orlando Lasi, 25, face charges of double homicide, aggravated sexual assault and robbery.
    Another two defendants, Omar Dario Ramos and Antonio Eduardo Sandoval have been charged with aiding in concealing a crime.
    The young women, 29 year-old Cassandre Bouvier and 24 year-old Houria Moumni were hiking in the San Lorenzo nature preserve when they went missing on July 15, 2011. Their bodies were found beaten and with evidence that they had been sexually assaulted more than two weeks later on July 29.
    Marcelo Arancibia, the defence lawyer for Vilte Laxi, said that his client was implicated in the case as the result of what he deems to be a flawed police investigation.

    "My evaluation is to confirm what I have said from the beginning. That he wasn't there. This was a confusion that was widely surpassed by documentation that they are going to incorporate and such an accusation cannot be relied on or sustained. It's a private commitment from the beginning to tell the truth and it will not change at any time," said Arancibia.
    Prosecution lawyer, Federico Rodriguez Spuch, however, said that there would be mounting evidence against the accused as the trial proceeded.

    "It's a trial that is expected to last two months, so evidence is going to continue emerging, and things are going to come together. At the end, like I said to another colleague, we are going to be able to come to a conclusion about all of this," said Spuch.
    Investigators found DNA samples of Lasi and Vera on the bodies of the victims.
    Lasi, one of the accused men, admitted to raping one of the girls, but said that Vera and Vilte encouraged him to commit the crime.
    Family members of the two victims have been highly involved in the international case that shook Argentina and France just under three years ago.
    Helene Kottak, mother of victim Cassandre Bouvier, took to the stand to testify and said that her daughter, who would have turned 32 tomorrow, and her friend Houria, would remain in their hearts forever.

    "Tomorrow, March 26, 2014 she (Bouvier) would have turned 32 years-old. In her journey she encountered all the evil, stupidity, cruelty, barbarity, monstrosity, that a human being in capable of. She will remain in our memories and our hearts, forever young, just like Houria," said Kottak.
    The trial is expected to last until mid-May and will hear testimony from some 200 people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register