Córdoba's Justice elevated to oral trial the case against Pablo Laurta, a 39-year-old Uruguayan accused of murdering his ex-wife Luna Giardina and ex-mother-in-law Mariel Zamudio. Laurta, held in preventive detention, is also investigated for a remisero's homicide in Entre Ríos. Prosecutor Gerardo Reyes advanced the trial for serious crimes including aggravated homicide by gender violence.
On Monday, Córdoba's Justice decided to elevate to oral and public trial the case against Pablo Laurta, the main defendant in the double femicide of Luna Giardina and Mariel Zamudio. The 39-year-old Uruguayan from Montevideo faces charges for aggravated homicide by kinship, treachery, and gender violence, plus threats, home violation, and disobedience to authority. He is held in preventive detention at Cruz del Eje prison.
According to the reconstruction, Laurta hired remisero Matías Sebastián Palacio at Concordia's bus terminal in Entre Ríos, paying him one and a half million pesos for the trip to Córdoba. They knew each other previously, as Laurta had used Palacio's services before. Once in Córdoba, Laurta committed the murders, burned the victim's Toyota Corolla in the Altas Cumbres area, and fled with his son. Days later, he was arrested in a Gualeguaychú hotel, Entre Ríos. Separately, Laurta is investigated for Palacio's homicide in Concordia.
Laurta ran an online marketing company since 2010 and studied journalism and management at Universidad ORT. He was involved in 'Varones Unidos', a group opposing 'false gender violence claims'. Amid a custody dispute over his son Pedro, Luna Giardina had accused Laurta of manipulation, coerced sex, and control, claims he dismissed as false. Prosecutor Gerardo Reyes, from Gender and Family Violence Instruction, resolved the trial advancement, underscoring the crimes' severity.
