Jorge Martínez, former manager of the Boca Juniors women’s team, was sentenced to one year in suspended prison for having been found guilty of the crime of simple sexual abuse, to the detriment of Florencia Marco, press officer of the team, in an event that occurred on the morning of March 30, 2022 within the Predio Pompilio Complex that the club has next to La Bombonera.
This was determined by Judge Sergio Paduczak, in charge of Oral and Correctional Court No. 22. In any case, it will not be an effective prison sentence because it is a sentence of less than three years., since in that case it is a releaseable crime. At the express request of Dr. Ángel Romero, defense attorneythe former right back listened to the sentence with his wife and children.
Beyond this case itself, prosecutor Marcelo Martínez Burgo announced that he will also ask “the La Boca District Prosecutor’s Office to intervene in the crimes of false testimony of Messrs. Jorge Bermúdez and Marcelo Delgado.”
They were moments of great emotion in the venue. When the verdict was announced, Marco burst into tears and hugged his lawyer, Andrea Lucangioli. Her mother, next to her, first shouted: “Thank you, God,” and then hugged her daughter while she told her: “The day has come.”.
“This person ruined the life of the entire family.“, Florencia’s mother said, very moved, to the people who were in the room. And she added: “Thank you very much for accompanying her.” Marco, meanwhile, at one point during the defense attorney’s argument, chose to withdraw “to avoid continuing to hear so many lies together,” as he said.
Already when both of them entered Comodoro Py 2002, this outcome was already intuited. Because while Jorge Martínez arrived at the Comodoro Py Courts nervous and “disappointed because the judge had to be recused,” as he declared to the media, and repeating over and over again that “It could not be proven that there was touching, “which is what the complaint says,” Marco arrived calm and anticipating: “The truth will come to light.”after the actions of these days that were consistent with everything I had to experience during all this time.”
It was a long day in the Comodoro Py Courts, where the arguments were read at 10:30. Prosecutor Martínez Burgo detailed the events and asserted that Marco’s story to narrate his suffering “was always the same” and that “He exhausted all possible avenues within the club before turning to Justice”, something she only did “when she noticed that everyone turned a deaf ear to contain her and help her.”
At the same time, he highlighted the contradictions of the defense and asserted that there were testimonies from the witnesses chosen by the defense in which it was stated that both Jorge Bermúdez and Marcelo Delgado knew of the events reported by Marco. He then asked for a three-year prison sentence.
After a brief intermission that he himself requested to go to the bathroom, Martínez’s lawyer made an extensive statement, lasting more than two hours. In it, He first apologized to the judge for having requested his recusal (“It’s nothing personal,” he said.) Then he stated that “throughout the entire procedural act, the existence of the reported crime was not proven.”
In addition, he highlighted “the level of professionalism of Mr. Martínez. Since he arrived, Boca has won everything and that implies a union and a very important psychological issue. If he were an abuser, how do you explain the tremendous sporting results he achieved?”.
He then shared photographs of a Boca New Year’s Eve party that the complainant and accused attended. And he made a proposal that was at least striking: “If Martínez really had intended to abuse Mrs. Marco, what better setting to do it than at a party?”.
The lawyer also maintained that “the existence of any act of gender violence, abuse, or touching has not been proven. AND We want it to be clear that my client never abused anyone”.
Once again, Dr. Romero stated that he will request the procedural annulment of the trial. “You have taken an accusatory position that does not correspond to a judge in the case, which manifests a violation of my client’s right to defense.”he told Dr. Paduczak, in addition to announcing that There is already a “complaint appeal” in Cassation. He finally asked for the acquittal of his client, Jorge Martínez, and questioned: “I don’t believe there is justice in this court.”
Before he left to analyze what happened in the debate and return with a verdict, the Judge gave the floor to Jorge Martínez, who with a broken voice said: “Thank you very much for letting me speak. I thank my family because they believe in me. I am innocent, I never disrespected anyone. I am a person who does my job in the best way and tries to compete, and I transmitted that to my players. Unfortunately, an unfortunate event cuts off all the projects you have.. Nothing else”.
An XL definition
What could have been a short trial went on longer than expected.. Initially, on Friday, March 22, everything was resolved. But defense lawyer Ángel Romero asked for an intermission to prepare his argument and everything happened the following Monday.
After that weekend there were news and postponements. When Justice seemed to have paved the way to hand down a sentence, Martínez’s lawyer requested the judge’s recusal and the annulment of the processand everything was on standby for 48 hours.
What is striking is that That request for recusal was made on a Sunday, and outside the usual channels for this type of proposals, which usually occur during hearings. That is to say: it is legal, but “very uncommon and unprofessional,” according to the view of Andrea Lucangioli, Marco’s lawyer.
“The grounds for the recusal are very clear. The judge, during the oral debate on Friday, took the responsibility of becoming a prosecutor in the case, not an impartial judge. Asking questions, cross-questions, induced, insistent, leading questions. All to try to force witnesses to affirm a situation that never existed,” said Dr. Romero. Martínez, for his part, pleaded innocent and questioned before the cameras: “It could not be proven that there was touching.”. What are they accusing me of? “You should ask Miss Marco.”
Then, on Wednesday the 27th, just before Holy Week begins, it became known that Judge Patricia Elisa Cusmanich asked the defense to substantiate the reasons for their request for recusal on Wednesday, April 3. of Judge Paduczak. That same day it was learned that The lawyer rejected those arguments and confirmed the judge in the case so that the cause remains in their hands.
False testimony?
On Friday, March 22, Martínez, Marco and more than a dozen witnesses proposed by the parties and by the prosecution itself (led by prosecutor Marcelo Martínez Burgo) gave statements before the judge. Among them, the members of the Boca Football Council Mauricio Serna (in person), Jorge Bermúdez and Marcelo Delgado (via Zoom); the coach of the men’s Eighth Division of Xeneize, Enrique Álvarez; Boca footballer Julieta Cruz and the club’s former player Yamila Rodríguezcurrently Palmeiras de Brasil.
After the round of testimony, Jorge Martínez’s lawyer, Ángel Romero, requested an intermission to prepare his final speech. On the side of the complaint, Dr. Andrea Lucangioli expressed that could initiate a new process for false testimony against Bermúdez and Delgado, since both stated that they had no knowledge of what happened, something that totally contrasts with the sayings of Marco, who He claimed to have spoken about the issue with them and with Raúl Cascini a year before filing the complaint with the club and in court. and that they had promised to make decisions and assured him that Both Juan Román Riquelme and his brother Cristian were aware of what was happening.
In the witness hearings there were also cross statements. For example, when Julieta Cruz said she knew nothing about the alleged incident and when, minutes later, Yamila Rodríguez from Brazil said that Marco had told both her and Cruz what happened during a trip in a remis. EITHER when Serna crossed Marco in the hallways of the Courts and, after expressing his support, defended Martínez’s innocence and asserted before the judge that he also knew nothing about the situation experienced by Florencia. A new “gentlemen’s agreement”? Meanwhile, another witness who is no longer part of the club maintained the veracity of Florencia’s story and that, although many girls have been victims of the now former coach’s behavior, most of them remain silent “out of fear.”
An unheard complaint
Marco and Martínez shared a workspace for more than 12 months, from January 2022 to February 2023. According to the testimony of the complainant, During that entire period, he suffered abuse of all kinds from Martínez.. “No one questioned if he came and instead of talking to you looking into your eyes, I looked at your breasts. Because “he is like that.” He didn’t question if he came and Instead of hugging you like a normal person, he came and hugged you and touched your private parts.. Because ‘it’s already part of him’. Abuse began to become normalized within the team. Sexual abuse and violence abuse. And power. When he touches my tail (and that is the complaint I make) he crosses all limits. He did it in a rude way, which confirmed to me that he was constantly abusing me.”, he described in a conversation with LA NACION.
Boca, for its part, turned a deaf ear to the employee’s internal complaint. Marco first alerted his bosses and coworkers about him. Then, to Jorge Bermúdez. And finally, to the Department of Inclusion and Equality, led by the then vice president of the club, Adriana Bravo. Far from containing her, they offered her leave for a month, with pay. Marco took the case to court and, a year later, is confident that the case will not go unpunished. At the moment, no Boca manager has communicated with the victim or referred to the judicial situation of Martínez, who was dismissed from his position in 2023.days after the woman’s complaint became publicly known.
“I am calm because I trust in God and Justice. None of the witnesses confirmed that there was touching as Miss Marco claims. We (for him and his lawyers) came to demonstrate the truth to justice. I’m innocent, I was available from the first moment and now we just have to wait for the ruling,” Martínez had stated after the initial hearing. And then he had defended himself: “My family is with me. I have two girls, a niece, a sister, a mother. And they are very sure of who I am as a person. “I love women, and I would never disrespect them.”