The National Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed the prosecution against former soccer player Claudio Paul Caniggia for the crime of aggravated sexual abuse against his ex-wife Mariana Nannis Silles.
In a resolution signed by chambermaids Mariano Scotto and Juan Cicciaro, the second instance ratified the prosecution and seizure of five million pesos that the investigating judge Fabiana Palmaghini applied to the former soccer player two months ago.
Among the arguments, the chamber members defined that «in no way can the assessment formulated by the intervening magistrate appear to be arbitrary.»
In the appeal before the Buenos Aires Crime Chamber, the defense of the former soccer star questioned the veracity of the fact and also the legal classification. To this, Scotto and Cicciaro responded that «given the evidence that the fact investigated did not have eyewitnesses or other direct evidence, the events that constitute crimes against sexual integrity must be reconstructed based on the circumstantial evidence available.» «.
«The elements gathered allow us to eventually reach the broadest stage of the debate (in oral trial), in such a way that it is possible to discard the negative certainty invoked in the appeal and that would have justified the requested dismissal,» the magistrates rejected.
Due to this judicial process, Caniggia was prevented from leaving the country last June, also by decision of Judge Palmaghini.
The former player of the Argentine national soccer team is accused of the episode that occurred on May 6, 2018, between dawn and the early hours of the morning, in apartment 221 of the Faena Hotel, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Puerto Madero. On that occasion, Caniggia tried to have sexual relations with her then-wife and, when she refused, he threatened to kill her, according to her file. Then «he hit her with his fist in the face that did not hit her, since she was covering herself with her hands, until finally he hit her in the arms and in the aforementioned hands,» the ruling that charged him stated, and added that After threats and beatings, he sexually abused her.
Once the appeal is resolved, Caniggia will face an oral trial that, if found guilty, could mean up to 15 years in prison.