Sonia Rescalvo Zafra (1946 – October 6, 1991) was a Spanish trans woman who was murdered by a group of neo-Nazis in the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona 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 in 1946 to parents Leopoldo Rescalvo and Dolores Zafra. She moved to Barcelona at the age of 16 and began working as a showgirl 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 Barcelo ...

. Later in life, she fell on hard times and became homeless and addicted to drugs, turning to sex work 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 skinheads from the

Boixos Nois The Boixos Nois (English: Crazy Boys, from the Catalan word "Bojos" meaning crazy) is an ultras supporter group organised around the La Liga football club FC Barcelona, based in Catalonia. Founded in 1981, they were originally composed of left-le ...

, who gave them repeated kicks to the head while wearing steel-toe boots. 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 and became the force's first murder inquiry since its recent redeployment in Catalonia. Police treated the attack as a

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

, 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 The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...

. 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