Sònia Rescalvo Zafra
Age 456 Oct 1991
Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)
Beaten
Sònia and her friend Dori were attacked in the Parc de la Ciutadella by six skinhead neo-Nazis who repeatedly kicked them in the head while they were lying on the floor. Only Dori survived.
On October 6, 1991, the [trans woman] Sonia Rescalvo Zafra was killed in a brutal beating by a group of neo-Nazis in Ciudadela Park in Barcelona. Her murder became very important because it was "the first crime of a transsexual for the mere fact of being one who has information and perseverance in Spain."
On the night of October 6, 1991, after a night of partying, six skinheads of ultra-right ideology sneaked into the Parc de la Ciutadella de Barcelona through a hole in the gate, heading to the Musicians' roundabout, a usual meeting place of [LGBT+ people]. There they proposed "to play the drum," as they called kicking with their boots reinforced with iron points on the heads of their victims.
Sonia and her co-worker Dori or Doris Romero slept that night in the open, in the park, and were identified by the group as "lumps" with " transvestite appearance". The beating that Sonia and Dori received was so violent that one of the attackers broke a toenail, despite the fact that his boot was protected with a steel reinforcement.
Initial reports by journalists confused Sonia with a black person, as explained by magistrate José Joaquín Pérez Beneyto, because "It was such a beating they bruised her all over." Dori managed to survive "by mere chance" according to the same sentence, but Sonia died "from a rain of kicks in the head and a stumble in the chest with a broomstick."
After leaving both dying on the ground, they beat up a one-eyed homeless man, Miguel Pérez Barreiros, who was nearby. As a result, Miguel lost the only eye he could see through and became blind. Later the six aggressors went to the bar Vis a Vis. The next day they met with a friend, Óscar Lozano, to tell him about the attack.
Sònia's killers were arrested in March 1992.
The group was arrested by the Molinero team in March 1992. Neo-Nazi fanzines, American fists, baseball bats and Boixos Nois cards, the group of ultras followers of FC Barcelona, ??were found in the registry of their homes. The judge sentenced them to a total of 333 years in prison.
"It was the first time that a topic of homophobia and transphobia was treated seriously," says Eugeni Rodríguez, of the Gay Liberation Front of Catalonia. For the lawyer who brought the popular accusation, María José Varela, supposed "an exciting moment" because "gays and transsexuals fought to get out of invisibility".
Sònia's death was a wake up call for the Spanish LGBT+ movement. In her memory the place where she was killed was renamed "Glorieta de la Transexual Sònia", and a monument honouring the memory of LGBT people persecuted for their sexual orientation and gender identity erected:
"For Sonia Rescalvo Zafra, who was brutally murdered on October 6, 1991 in this roundabout by a group of neo-Nazis due to her gender identity. The city of Barcelona condemns this crime and rejects any attitude or action that violates the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
https://barcelonasecreta.com/glorieta-transexual-sonia/
https://barcelonasecreta.com/glorieta-transexual-sonia/
https://mundojovenlgtbi.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/era-sonia-y-era-mujer/
https://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/25-anos-del-asesinato-de-sonia_62294_102.html
https://beteve.cat/va-passar-aqui/assassinat-sonia-rescalvo-ciutadella-nazis/
https://cronicaglobal.elespanol.com/vida/25-anos-del-asesinato-de-sonia_62294_102.html
https://elpais.com/diario/2011/10/09/sociedad/1318111208_850215.html
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asesinato_de_Sonia_Rescalvo_Zafra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unlawfully_killed_transgender_people
