Argentina orders 126.8 million pesos compensation for woman wrongfully jailed

Patricia Miriam Larroza spent more than two years in pre‑trial detention after being accused of orchestrating the murder of her partner, Fabián Héctor Martínez, in August 2013. The prosecution withdrew the homicide charges during the trial and she was acquitted by the Criminal Oral Court No. 4 of Mercedes.

The appellate court found that her preventive detention exceeded a reasonable period and lacked solid evidentiary basis. It ordered the Province of Buenos Aires to pay a total of 126.8 million Argentine pesos, comprising 26.8 million for psychological incapacity and 100 million for moral damage, plus 6 % annual interest from the date of her arrest. The judgment considered her family situation: she is mother of four children, two of whom were minors at the time, and one has a severe disability that required care she could not provide while incarcerated. The perpetrators of Martínez’s homicide remain unidentified.