"Jehovah's Witness of St. Helena convicted of abuse was captured
Paraná, Oct 13 (APFDigital)
- After a search and capture operation, the Police arrested this Friday Pedro Matías Vargas, the member of Jehovah's Witnesses of Santa Elena, sentenced to 12 years in prison for sexual abuse who remained a fugitive after a month ago the Justice ordered his arrest and accommodation in Criminal Unit No. 1 of Paraná
According to what the Police indicated, agents of the La Paz Departmental Police Headquarters, in charge of the deputy departmental chief Gerardo Schumacher, and in conjunction with members of the Investigations Division of the Villa Mercedes Department of the Police of the Province of San Luis, after different investigations and crossings of permanent information, proceeded, on the date, to the arrest of Vargas, who will be transferred to this Province to serve the sentence of 12 years of effective prison ordered by Justice.
Last September, Justice had ordered the "immediate detention" of Pedro Matías Vargas, the Jehovah's Witness of Santa Elena sentenced in 2021 to 12 years in prison for abuse and corruption of minors. In the trial, which took place in the Courts of La Paz, Vito Panza was also found responsible for that crime, but in his case the file was sent to the Juvenile Justice because at the time the events occurred he had not reached the age of majority.
The decision was adopted after the ruling of the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) that on Tuesday, the 12th of last month rejected a federal extraordinary appeal filed by the defenders of Vargas and Panza, Roberto Alsina and Miguel Cullen, to take the case to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. A court of first instance, the Criminal Cassation Chamber and the Criminal Chamber of the STJ had endorsed the decision of the guilt of both Witnesses in the abuses reported by two young people.
Belén was the first whistleblower. "I felt that everything I tried to do was going wrong in life, I blamed myself a lot for not being able to go out and now I feel able not to shut up and heal. And free me from all the bad things. I don't wish evil on anyone. I have a little resentment towards those people but now I'm no longer sorry, I'm freeing myself, now people have supported me," he said when he decided to make the situation of abuse public.
Bethlehem was raised under the rules of Jehovah's Witnesses and emphasizes that there she learned to respect the other. But there she lived an ordeal. As he denounced, he suffered touching by two ministerial servants of the Witnesses, one of the hierarchies reached by men within the cult. He temporarily points out that he endured abuse between the ages of 8 and 11.
The ministerial servant is in charge of helping the elders - the name given to the leaders of the congregation - to lead the meetings, give advice, guide the preaching, and give lectures at different points where there is a room of Jehovah's Witnesses. That is, they are the closest to the elderly.
•His battle began much earlier, in 2017
When he decided to tell the leaders of the organization what had happened to him, they read him a passage from the Holy Scriptures: "In the eyes of God, nothing goes unpunished." There was no punishment for the alleged abusers. Only one was taken away the "privilege" of being a ministerial servant, but he continued to go to the temple. Having to see that person still in the "salon" of the Witnesses motivated Belén to take another step: to leave the organization. I was 17 years old.
That year 2017, during the Lord's Supper - Holy Week for Catholics - Belén saw one of the abusers - who today lives in San Luis, Matías Vargas - visiting Santa Elena; and the memories returned, like those laughs that tormented her at school. He wanted to react, but he decompensated. She later chose to tell on Facebook what she experienced as a child. After telling it, her cousin, now 18 years old, also revealed that she went through the same situation. The first step of the group of elders of the Witnesses was to find out if Belén forced the other young woman, who is her cousin, to say what she said.
• Both became whistleblowers of Jehovah's Witnesses.
On March 19, 2021, a court made up of judges María Carolina Castagno, Elvio Garzón and Gustavo Pimentel sentenced Matías Vargas to 12 years in prison for the crime of aggravated sexual abuse and corruption of minors; while in the case of the other accused, Vito Luciano Panza, although he was also found responsible, the Juvenile Criminal Justice must intervene because at the time of the events he had not reached the age of majority.
On November 10, 2022, the Criminal Cassation Chamber of Paraná - composed of the members Marcela Badano, Marcela Davite and Alejandro Grippo - confirmed the ruling of first instance.
"The claim of the defense is based, like several of the grievances, on introducing fallacious reasoning," Badano said in a passage of the ruling, in which he described as correct the resolution of March 19, 2021, issued by the Court of Judgment and Appeals, composed of judges María Carolina Castagno, Gustavo Pimentel and Elvio Garzón.
The member considered the accusation of the Prosecutor's Office and the complaint proven: that the defendants abused the girls - now of legal age -: one from 9 to 11 years old; and another when she was between 10 and 11 years old. The complaints were formalized in April 2017, when the victims were 21 and 18 years old, respectively.
The conviction was endorsed last June by the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice, which on Tuesday, September 12, thretched the federal appeal by denying the Court's way. After that, the arrest warrant for Jehovah's Witness Matías Vargas, a resident of San Luis, was activated, who must serve the 12-year sentence in Criminal Unit Nº 1, in Paraná, published Entre Ríos Ahora. (APFFDigital)"
"Accused of abuse in Entre Ríos was captured by the Police in San LuisAgents of the La Paz Departmental Police Headquarters, in charge of Deputy Chief Commissioner Major Gerardo Schumacher, in collaboration with troops from the province of San Luis, captured Pedro Matías Vargas, the Jehovah's Witness who was wanted for the crime of seriously outrageous sexual abuse aggravated by the quality of minister of worship and in charge of custody, an event that occurred in the town of Santa Elena, in Entre Ríos.
The man must serve a 12-year prison sentence, imposed by the Oral Criminal Court No. 1 of Paraná on March 19, 2021. The case against him - and his brother-in-law Vito Panza - was opened in 2017, when two young people denounced the abuses that occurred between the ages of 8 and 11. When the case came to trial, in 2021, it was determined that the events occurred between March 2005 and March 2008; and between April 2010 and April 2011.
Regarding the arrest of Vargas, the Police realized that it took place in Villa Mercedes, San Luis after different investigations and crossings of permanent information.
It is expected that in the next few hours the detainee will be transferred to Entre Ríos to serve the sentence of 12 years of effective imprisonment.
Vargas' arrest warrant had been issued on September 13, but it was delayed in becoming effective since it was not found. It was then that the Court of Trial and Appeals of Paraná, which he understood in the case, issued Vargas' rebellion and issued an alert for his arrest. (Digital Analysis)"(Translated by Translate on iOS Apple)
