Sonia Rescalvo Zafra (1946 – October 6, 1991) was a

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who was murdered by a group of

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in the

Parc de la Ciutadella The (; "Citadel Park") is a park on the northeastern edge of Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For decades following its creation in the mid-19th century, this park was the city's only green space. The grounds include the city zoo (o ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on 6 October 1991. Her murder is notable for being the first known case in Spain of a person being murdered for being transgender.

Background

Sonia was born in

Cuenca, Spain Cuenca () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It is the capital of the province of Cuenca. Etymology Its name may derive from the Latin ''conca'' meaning "river basin", referring ...

in 1946 to parents Leopoldo Rescalvo and Dolores Zafra. She moved to Barcelona at the age of 16 and began working as a

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in theatres on the

Avinguda del Paral·lel Avinguda del Paral·lel (; en, Avenue of the Parallel) is one of the main streets of the city of Barcelona, dividing Ciutat Vella, Eixample and Sants-Montjuïc districts. It receives this name because it is (unlike any other street in Barcelona) ...

. Later in life, she fell on hard times and became homeless and addicted to drugs, turning to

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

to survive.

Murder

Sonia and a friend, known as Dori or Doris, were sleeping rough at a bandstand in Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella in the early hours of 6 October 1991 when they were abruptly attacked by a group of six teenage

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from the Boixos Nois, who gave them repeated kicks to the head while wearing

steel-toe boots A steel-toe boot (also known as a safety boot, steel-capped boot, steel toecaps or safety shoe) is a durable boot or shoe that has a protective reinforcement in the toe which protects the foot from falling objects or compression. Safety shoes a ...

. Sonia was killed in the attack and her friend was seriously injured; three other people sleeping at the bandstand were also attacked.

Media coverage

Investigation and trial

An investigation was launched by the

Mossos d'Esquadra The ''Mossos d'Esquadra'' (; en, Squad), also known as the ''Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya'' and informally as ''Mossos'', is the autonomous police force responsible for law enforcement in Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. ...

and became the force's first murder inquiry since its recent redeployment in Catalonia. Police treated the attack as a hate crime, even though Spanish criminal law at that time did not distinguish between crimes motivated by prejudice and others. In March 1992, seven people were arrested and charged in connection with the murder: Pere Alsina Llinares, David Parladé Valdés, Héctor and Isaac López Frutos, Andrés Pascual Prieto, Oliver Sánchez Riera and Óscar Lozano. Police found weapons such as brass knuckles and baseball bats, as well as neo-Nazi and Boixos Nois paraphernalia in searches of their homes. The court in Barcelona found that the attackers were hostile to LGBT people and knew the bandstand was regularly used by LGBT people as a place to sleep. In June 1994, six of the suspects were convicted of participating in the attack and given prison sentences ranging from 23 to 50 years, while the seventh, Lozano, was fined 100,000 pesetas for knowing of the murder and not reporting it. In 1996, the attackers' sentences were reduced by the Supreme Court of Spain. All six have since been released from prison.

Aftermath

In 1993, a plaque commemorating Sonia was installed on the bandstand where she was murdered. In 2013, the bandstand was officially renamed ''Glorieta de la Transsexual Sònia'' in her memory.

References

{{Reflist 1991 murders in Spain LGBT history in Spain Persecution of LGBT people Violence against women in Spain Violence against trans women 1991 in LGBT history