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milestones

2010 April 12

First conviction for sexual crimes, Santa Fe

Sexual crimes were reported early on by the victims. However, it took many years before they were recognized as specific violations of human rights and prosecuted accordingly. The first conviction for sexual crimes occurred in 2010, in a case heard in the province of Santa Fe where Horacio Barcos, a civilian member of the Army intelligence division, was convicted. The court ruled that "the sexual violence endured by the victims of these abhorrent crimes also constitutes another form of torture."

In the years that followed, sexual crimes began to be considered a specific crime against humanity, separate from the crime of torture. The first conviction that advanced this criterion was handed down by the Court on Criminal Matters of Mar del Plata in 2010, in a ruling that convicted Air Force Petty Officer Gregorio Molina, former head of "La Cueva" clandestine detention center for five counts of rape and one attempted rape. According to the data obtained by the Prosecutor's Office of Crimes against Humanity, between 2006 and 2023, 16% of the sentences for crimes of state-sponsored terrorism included these types of offenses.