Monday 19 October 2015

Trans Activist Diana Sacayan Killed in Her Home


Renowned transgender activist and LGBT+ community supporter Diana Sacayan was found murdered in her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 13th.  According to reports from the local news network, The Buenos Aires Herald, it is being reported that Diana was stabbed multiple times by someone that she allowed into her apartment, suggesting the killer was known to her.

Despite initially believing the murder to be as a result of a robbery attempt, Buenos Aires police are now entertaining the possibility that Diana could have been targeted due to being transgender, or her work within the LGBT+ community.

Diana was well respected within the LGBT+ community in her home country, having worked with the LGBT+ rights group Movimento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberacion as well as acting as Trans Secretariat on the board of ILGA, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

It was initially due to Dianas lack of appearance at the 30th National Women's Meeting, held in Mar del Plata on the weekend of the 10th of October, that made her friends concerned for her whereabouts and safety.

Following Diana's death the charity Amnesty International is calling for action to tackle the shocking level of deaths within the trans community in South America as the murder rate has risen dramatically.

The charity have issued a strongly worded statement to the Argentinian government demanding that better steps be taken to document and investigate the murder of trans people.  In the last month three trans women have been murdered in Argentina, Marcela Chocobar, Coty Olmos and Diana Sacayan.  All three women were heavily involved in transgender equality and activism causes.

According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, South America has the highest number of recorded murders for trans people in the world, having documented 1356 cases since 2008.

Amy.
xx


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