Argentine lawyer Agostina Páez, detained in Rio de Janeiro since January over gestures deemed racist, will not go to prison and can return home following a court hearing on Tuesday. Prosecutors reformulated the charge as a continued offense, paving the way for community service in Argentina and financial reparation.
Agostina Páez, a 29-year-old Argentine lawyer, faced three charges of racial injury in Brazil after an incident on January 14 at a bar in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. She was filmed making gestures interpreted as racist by bar employees, leading to her detention with an electronic anklet and a ban on leaving the country since then, as confirmed by her lawyer Carla Junqueira to Perfil. At Tuesday's hearing on March 24, prosecutors reduced the charges from three separate counts to a single continued offense involving three victims, averting the most severe outcome. Neither prosecutors nor the complainants opposed her return to Argentina. The judge must now sign the resolution, set the financial bail, and formalize exit conditions, a step the defense expects within days. Páez will perform community service in Argentina and provide economic reparation to the victims. After the hearing, Páez stated: “I feel relieved, but I won't be at peace until I'm back in Argentina” and called it “the worst experience of my life”.
