They arrested a martial arts fighter in Salta for disfiguring his pregnant girlfriend

A free martial arts (MMA) fighter was arrested in Salta by court order after images of his pregnant girlfriend with a bloody face went viral and being denounced for gender violence. It is about Juan “El León” Varela, who was publicly scanned through social networks by his girlfriend, who accused him of having attacked and disfigured her with blows. The defendant also denied the facts through social networks and assured that his partner had had a “psychotic break” derived from the jealousy he felt as a result of the fighter’s relationship with an ex-wife, the mother of his son. “This garbage left me on the street, it ran me out of the house we lived in together, without caring that I am pregnant, I suffered months of physical and psychological violence,” said the young woman in her publication on social networks. In her Instagram stories, in addition, the young woman showed the state in which the door of her room was left after a fit of fury by “León” Varela. “So he destroyed the bedroom door to come in to rape me,” wrote the young woman, who said that her boyfriend is “mentally ill, drug addicted and violent.” “This victim is particularly vulnerable because she is a woman, because she is pregnant and because she is financially dependent on the accused,” explained the prosecutor in the case, Gabriela Dávalos. As a result of the complaint, the Judge of Guarantees 8, Claudia Puertas, ordered the arrest of the fighter, accused in principle of the crime of injuries, aggravated by gender and ties. The judge granted a request from the prosecution and ordered a search of Varela’s home, who was not found at the scene. However, upon learning of the search and the motive, the defendant appeared at a police station, where he was detained by order of the judge. Varela defended himself using social networks to make a statement about what happened and denying the reported aggression. He maintained that his girlfriend “has psychological problems, is bipolar” and said: “I never raised my hand, I am against gender violence.” “What happened was that she had a psychotic break because I have a good relationship with my son’s mother and she does not want me to talk to her or have contact with my son,” argued the MMA fighter, a combination of different martial arts and combat sports such as jiu-jitsu, boxing, taekwondo, judo and wrestling, among others. And he added: “I told her that this relationship was no more and I put an end to it, to which she reacted by scribbling me and telling falsehoods about me” According to the victim, this is not the first time that the martial arts fighter has hit her , and cited that last March the neighbors called the police when they heard another beating. Prosecutor Dávalos considered that the latest attack was a turning point for the victim due to the injuries she suffered and because she is pregnant: “She decided to make it public and we intervened as a result of the publication,” she said.

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