Former Estudiantes player Diego Garcia. Imprisonment for more than six years in a sexual assault case It happened in 2021, as he posted a message on his Instagram account after the verdict was announced. The player insisted on his innocence, and expressed that he would continue his attempt to overturn the judicial decision.
Garcia began by saying: “Sometimes life puts you in battles that you did not deserve and hits you that you did not seek,” stressing that in this process you “discover what you are made of.” He said in his defense: “Today I know that peace is not negotiated and whoever walks with a clear conscience and a clean heart always ends up finding the light.”
The player confirmed that he was “accused of something I did not do,” which he described as “one of the hardest wounds to bear.” Despite the ruling against him, he said: “I will not give up, I will not give up, because if there is one thing I am clear about, it is knowing what really happened. Until the truth comes out, I will not stop, I will do this for myself and my family.”
García also expressed the emotional impact of the judicial and social process: “I faced looks I didn’t deserve, and I endure comments that hurt me a lot. But I never give up. As I have tattooed on my leg, ‘Only the strong know how to wait.'”
In his message, he thanked those who accompanied him during these years: “Thank you to those who have always been truly with me, thank you for not letting me fall during these difficult years.” He also addressed those who criticized him, saying: “To those who judged me without knowing me, without knowing the truth, I do not hold a grudge. And to them, I also say thank you because you made me discover a version of myself that I did not know existed.”
The case dates back to February 24, 2021, when the victim, an Estudiantes hockey player, reported that Garcia forcefully took her while she was waiting to enter the bathroom of a villa in Abasto and sexually assaulted her. During the trial, which included forensic reports, eyewitness accounts and a tentative reconstruction of the event, both the prosecution and plaintiff maintained that there was compelling evidence proving the abuses. Prosecutor Lucas Domski had asked for eight years in prison, while Peña had asked for a ten-year prison sentence.