This Tuesday the trial against former basketball coach of Gernika, Mario López, for the continuous crime of sexual abuse of a minor committed between 1998 and 2001.
The first of three sessions of the lawsuit, which will appear for sentencing this Thursdaystarted at 9:30 in the morning at the Provincial Court of Bizkaia. Like other sessions, it is developed on the camera.
Mario López entered the Palace of Justice at 8:45 and He did not want to make any statement.
Concentration before the courts
A hundred people gathered in front of the doors of the Bizkaia Court, summoned by Gernika Feminist Network. Those present displayed three banners on which slogans were read. We believe in you, We are with you y Feminist Justice Baten Alde.
Arlette Apraiz, representative of this group, read a Revelation where they said “We do not need sanctions, but guarantees“. For Gernikako Sare Feminista “it is important to focus on the reparation of the victims.” They remember that “we said we believed you when we heard the victim’s story.” They criticized that “This judicial system does not care about the victims” and they assured that “we will continue to fight for feminist justice, because it does not end with this trial or its punishment.”
In that sense, the spokesperson of Gernikako Sare Feminista criticism of “how the test is presented”given that “What the victim is asking, what he has to prove is impossible to himself.” In his opinion, “the focus is on a woman’s need to show off” versus “the appreciation of a sexist society and power schemes.”
Because of this, Apraiz assured that in Gernikako Sare Feminista “we don’t expect anything from the sentence” and that they will not make “a judicial assessment because we have not put ourselves into a judicial scheme. We came here to support the victim and we didn’t come to ask the judges anything.. We believe that is our role.”
Mario Lopez He faces a request for a 14-year prison sentence from the Prosecutor’s Office and 18 from the private prosecution.