El País Editorial
Romina Celeste Papasso received communication of her sentence this Monday after reaching a plea deal with prosecutor Sandra Fleitas. She will spend two years and one month in prison for having committed eleven crimes, some against the candidate of the Frente Amplio, Yamandú Orsi, and others related to Gustavo Penadés, Sebastián Mauvezín, and journalist Ignacio Álvarez.
Beyond the sentence, prosecutor Fleitas explained how she saw the former member of the National Party. She stated that she looked different from when she was found for the indictment hearing in May.
“She is under psychiatric medication, yesterday (this Thursday) her attitude regarding the first time she was detained was very different. I think these months she spent in preventive detention made her realize that one cannot lie, that it is not a game to go out and say any nonsense about anyone,” Fleitas said in an interview with Informativo Sarandí.
“Perhaps due to the effect of the medication and having treatment, she has become aware of the problem she has created and that one cannot go through life saying anything,” she pointed out.
Photo: Leonardo Mainé
Why Romina Celeste attended the hearing in an Argentina jersey
On the other hand, the prosecutor said that she asked Romina Celeste why she attended the court hearing in a jersey of the Argentine national football team with Lionel Messi’s number 10.
“She explained it to me,” she said and elaborated that, according to what she told her, “everything that was happening to her was because she had returned from Argentina” and that she had “the mission” to return to that country once she gets out of jail.
“She was thinking about going back to Argentina and starting her life differently there. She believes that, in reality, as a consequence of everything that has happened, she is starting a new life from now on, and in her mind, she started her new life in Argentina,” she indicated.
Photo: Leonardo Mainé/El País
What was the reason for denouncing Yamandú Orsi
Finally, the prosecutor stated that she was able to conclude what the motivation was for Paula Díaz, the trans woman who falsely accused Orsi of an assault, advised by Romina Celeste.
“It didn’t sit well with me that it was only for notoriety. I was able to determine that it was for an economic motive, basically, to obtain those 12 salaries that would allow her to have the monetary sanction provided for in the gender law,” Fleitas stated.
Another motivation, but also economic, is that “since they engage in prostitution, they understood that doing all this – being in the spotlight, in the media, etc. – significantly increased what had to do with clients,” she noted.
In any case, she said that “the case is not closed” and that she will “continue investigating if there were more people involved,” which “is not ruled out” for now.
