28-year -old woman, Cecilia Strzyzowski has been missing since June 1. She was last seen with her husband, César Sena, in Resistencia, Province of Chaco, Argentina. Her disappearance is being investigated as a femicide after possible human bones, blood traces and pieces of clothing were found at two properties belonging to Sena’s family. The family of Cecilia’s husband are powerful local leaders and were pre-candidates for the recent provincial elections.
As a part of the investigation, César Sena and his parents have been detained. We demand an effective, impartial, independent, timely and gender-sensitive investigation to establish the truth about the disappearance and possible femicide of Cecilia Strzyzowksi.
Write to the Investigating Prosecutor urging that:
- The investigation for Cecilia’s disappearance and possible femicide is carried out in accordance with legal standards that seek to address all forms of violence against women;
- Due diligence is ensured throughout the investigation;
- Urgent, thorough, effective, truly independent and impartial, timely and gender-sensitive investigation is conducted to shed light on the facts and convicts those responsible;
- The victim’s family members are meaningfully involved in the search and all phases of the criminal process.
- He sends an unequivocal message that gender-based violence will not be tolerated and will not go unpunished.
Write to:
Jorge Cáceres Olivera
Investigating Prosecutor N°4
Chaco Province Public Prosecutor’s Office
Email: equipofiscal4.rcia@justiciachaco.gov.ar
Salutation: Dear Jorge Cáceres Olivera,
And copy:
Her Excellency Maria Josefina MARTINEZ GRAMUGLIA
Ambassador
Embassy of the Argentine Republic
81 Metcalfe Street, 7th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1P 6K7
Tel: (613) 236-2351 Fax: (613) 235-2659
Email: ecana@cancilleria.gov.ar
Background
Cecilia Strzyzowksi’s disappearance is being investigated as a femicide after possible human bones, blood traces and pieces of clothing were found at two properties belonging to the family of César Sena, Cecilia’s husband.
On June 27, 2023, after a search in the Tragadero River, next to the farm of Emerenciano Sena and Marcela Acuña, César’s parents, human skeletal remains were found, according to the report of the experts at the Forensic Medical Institute of the Judiciary of Chaco. In addition to this, tactical divers found a pendant inside of a bag that could be Cecilia’s.
César Sena and his parents, who are powerful local leaders and were pre-candidates for the recent provincial elections, have been detained and are being charged for the murder of Cecilia.
César Sena has been charged with aggravated murder for his close relationship with Cecilia and for the crime being allegedly committed during a gender-based violence episode, which would make it a femicide.
Meanwhile, his parents are facing accusations of aggravated murder for premeditation as co-conspirators. Four other people have been indicted under suspicion of being involved in the alleged murder or in hiding the body.
Gender-based violence
In Argentina one case of femicide was registered every 35 hours in 2022. 167 out of the 252 deaths occurred in contexts of violence in the domestic sphere. The province of Chaco is the province with the second highest femicide rate, according to information from the National Registry of Femicides of the Argentinean Justice.
Recognizing this as a concerning human rights situation, several States have made recommendations to Argentina to strengthen the fight against gender-based violence and allocate the necessary resources to bring perpetrators of femicide to justice in its latest United Nation’s Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review.
