Argentina court jails two in landmark femicide retrial

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator wearing an orange handkerchief, symbolizing the separation of church and state, as face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) holds a placard that reads "Legal Abortion Now", during a protest against violence towards women on the 5th anniversary of the "Ni Una Menos" movement, outside the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, in Buenos Aires, Argentina June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File Photo

An Argentina court on Thursday convicted two men for the rape and murder of 16-year-old Lucia Perez in 2016, a case that has become emblematic of a movement to fight back against violence against women and girls in the region.

Perez's murder in Mar del Plata ignited widespread anger in Argentina, becoming a symbol of the Ni Una Menos (Not One Less) movement to demand action on femicide. The movement began in Argentina in 2015 and has spread through Latin America, where at least 4,473 women were murdered in 2021, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.