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The third time was not the charm. The priest Julio César Grassi, who is serving 15 years in prison for the sexual abuse of two minors who were under his care at the Felices los Niños Foundation, failed to convince the judges of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 1 of Morón and His request for release was unanimously rejected. Unless he tries again, and eventually succeeds, the priest, who insists he is innocent, will remain in prison in Campana prison until May 2028.
This is what the judges decided. Mariana Maldonado, Juan Carlos Uboldi y Claudio Chaminadi after a recess after having heard the arguments of Grassi who, now as a lawyer – he studied and graduated in prison -, represented himself, and those of the tax Mario Ravizziki and attorney Juan Pablo Gallego, the lawyer representing the victims.
Grassi spoke from an office in the Campana prison, where he is serving his sentence. “The hearing was more forceful than expected. Grassi lied, declared himself innocent and said he had nothing to repent of”Gallego said in statements to LN+ during the break.
Juan Pablo Gallego, lawyer for the victimsNicolas Suarez
The ruling was read by Judge Maldonado, who is the presiding judge of the court. She first explained that Grassi’s request for annulment was being rejected and then that his request for release was being denied.
“Today we saw a monster in person. The expert reports have already said so. It was proven that it is the same person who claims to be the aggrieved party, that his word is the only one that counts. In 2028, Argentina will have to debate whether there is room to release a monster and under what conditions, even if he serves his sentence,” said Gallego after learning the verdict.
The lawyer was very satisfied with the magistrates’ decision. “The judges took the grounds that we presented, taking into account that the constitutional block and, fundamentally, the Convention on the Rights of the Child appeared to be violated here. This was cited and it gives us great satisfaction and relief for the victims. Grassi tried to challenge all the reports [del Servicio Penitenciario Bonaerense (SPB)]. The whole situation with Grassi was detrimental to his interests and embarrassing. He was very aggressive towards the judges and towards the SPB,” said Gallego.
Grassi received his law degree in prison, but today he appeared before the court wearing his clerical collar. Today was his first statement. “I served as a priest through the Foundation [Felices los Niños] and in many other actions in popular neighborhoods against all types of mistreatment of children and adolescents”he told the judges.
The judges who rejected the request of the priest Julio César GrassiNicolás Suárez
During his presentation, Grassi requested a recess “to get things in order.” “All procedural rights in the country have an action for review because there is a full possibility that there is a judicial error, that a person has been wrongly condemned and that the sentence be final.” In fact, his sentence was confirmed at each stage, from the trial court to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
Grassi was convicted in 2019 for events that occurred in 1996 and came to light six years later, thanks to a journalistic revelation by Telenoche Investiga. He never admitted his guilt: not only did he deny the facts, but he questioned the victims themselves who had denounced him..
He was imprisoned from October 23 to November 21, 2002; then he remained linked to the process, but at liberty, until his new arrest on March 7, 2012, which he carried out under house arrest until May 31 of that year. Finally, he was arrested on September 23, 2013 and remains housed in the Campana prison in Buenos Aires.
He requested house arrest in April 2020, during the acute phase of the coronavirus pandemic. He failed because it was found that he was not part of the population considered to be at risk of contracting Covid-19.
At that time, Grassi assumed that he would complete his sentence in August 2026, since in 2017 the Court of Appeals and Guarantees of Morón had granted him the benefit of “2×1”. But a review of the ruling in the Court of Appeals changed the priest’s situation. On June 28, 2022, the sentence was extended for two more years after an appeal filed by the plaintiff, due to the miscalculation of the sentence and the inapplicability of the so-called “two for one” benefit.
The appeal against Grassi’s initial conviction was filed before the Court of Appeals of Morón, which gave rise to the petition and ordered to extend the sentence until May 30, 2028. In this way, the 15 years to which the priest was sentenced came into effect in 2013.
On June 10, 2009, the Criminal Court No. 1 of Morón sentenced the cleric to 15 years in prison. for the crimes of “aggravated sexual abuse because he is a priest, in charge of the education and care of the minor victim” […] repeated in two events, in real competition with each other, which, in turn, formally concurred with corruption of minors aggravated by his position as person in charge of education and custody.” This is for the events committed in November and December 1996 at the Felices los Niños Foundation, which operated on a property in Hurlingham.
The lawyer Juan Pablo GallegoNicolas Suarez
In September of last year, Grassi had submitted through his lawyers a request for conditional release similar to the one that was analyzed today in the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) No. 1 of Morón. At that time, the convicted man’s request was also rejected.
At the time, Gallego, who represents the victims, had expressed his strong opposition to Grassi’s early release. “If he does not serve the stipulated sentence, it would be another strong blow to the victims. It would obscure the act of justice that involved validating the victims’ truth,” he said shortly before the hearing held last year. Now he repeated similar concepts. His position is that conditional release “is not a benefit that sexual offenders can request, since that is what the Penal Code establishes.”
The priest, who despite having a final conviction was not expelled from the Catholic Church and continues to be an active member of the clergy –although it was decided that he could not officiate mass or give the sacraments–, maintains that the procedural and penal reform that prohibits early release from prison for people convicted of sexual crimes was not in force when he was tried, so, as it cannot be applied retroactively, it would not be applicable to his case. After the resolution issued this afternoon, it is interpreted that at least for the Justice of Morón it fully applies in the proceedings against the priest.
Grassi has been housed since 2017, after the confirmation of the sentence made by the Supreme Court, in Pavilion No. 6 of Penitentiary Unit No. 41sector where prisoners with good behavior are kept.
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