Mario Sáenz reacted to Victoria Salas' 45-year sentence for femicide: “State manufactures culprits”

Mario Sáenz, a skateboarder, was sentenced to more than four decades in prison for finding him guilty of the femicide of Victoria Salas, who was found in his room hotel in 2017.

Through the Office of the Attorney General of Justice of Mexico City (FGJCDMX), it was announced that the evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office, over more than 40 procedural days, allowed a Prosecution Court to pass judgment against Saenz.

In total, they gave a maximum of 45 years in prison for the man criminally responsible for the crime of aggravated femicide, which occurred in September 2017, in the Tlalpan mayor's office.

The accusation against the individual was reinforced by the agent of the Public Prosecutor's Office, attached to the Office of the Deputy Prosecution Prosecutor, therefore, the former athlete will remain in the Southern Men's Preventive Prison and must pay for the reparation of the damage.

Local media reported after the last of the hearings that this sum to be settled is 485,000 pesos in favor of the indirect victims of the feminicide of Victoria Salas.

In the investigation folder it was established that the now convicted attacked the victim with a sharp weapon; later, he left the body in the bathroom of the room where they were both.

Through Mario Sáenz's official social networks, specifically on Instagram, the family and skate defender claimed that he “received an erroneous sentence for a crime he didn't commit.”

In addition, they accused the State and the corresponding authorities of “defending feminicides” and “making culprits”, among which the former athlete stands out, “while the true feminicide remains free. “This sentence is not justice,” they stressed.

“Today it is Mario Saenz who is paying for a crime he didn't commit, but tomorrow it could be you who could be singled out without proof of a crime you didn't commit, sentenced with false accusations in a country that protects femicides and believes false culprits,” they wrote days earlier on their social networks.

Among the evidence that they would have given to the authorities are DNA tests, geolocation tests, as well as videos in key areas before and after the murder, as well as witnesses who point out the opposite of the sentence.

“This sentence is not justice. We will continue to fight for your freedom, Mario,” they wrote, leaving open the possibility of seeking an urgent way to reverse it, such as a prompt appeal to the sentence.

Victoria Salas was found in her hotel room in Tlalpan known as Novo Coapa, under the shower and her throat slit. The first suspect was Mario Sáenz, her boyfriend and renowned CDMX skate.

Victoria began the celebrations for her birthday with Mario, according to what her mother said to the media. Together they went to Cocoyoc in the state of Morelos, and returned to CDMX, as he told his mother in text messages.

Mario was the first suspect, and he was even arrested at the Victoria Salas wake, but he was released. Allegedly, according to the evidence he provided, on the day of the femicide he was with a friend, he had four tires struck out and even went to file a complaint.

Mario was at large for about a year and a half thereafter, until on March 30, 2019, he voluntarily surrendered to the capital's authorities, who completed the arrest warrant and transferred him to the North Prison.

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