Three Argentine police officers were sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for the killing of a 17-year-old mestizo boy, and six other colleagues to four to eight years in prison for torture or falsifying evidence, with judges referring to “racist hatred” in their verdict.

Gabriel Isasi, Fabian López and Juan José Nieva were found guilty of the 2021 murder of Lucas Gonzalez, a teenager from a suburb of Buenos Aires, while he was with three friends after a soccer team training in the southern part of the Argentine capital.

They were convicted of “premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances”, with the verdict referring more specifically to “racist hatred” and “abuse of power”, as well as attempted murder of the other three youths who were with the victim.

“They were targeted because they were dark-skinned, because they came from a poor neighborhood,” and as they were “leaving practice” they were “screened out,” Lucas’ father, Hector Gonzalez, told the hearing.

According to the conclusion of the investigation, the four youths were in a car, they had stopped to buy drinks when they were approached by an unmarked police vehicle. As they did not live in the neighborhood and did not know who they were dealing with, they tried to leave. Police officers opened fire, hitting Lucas Gonzalez in the head.

One of the occupants was able to escape. The policemen threw the other two to the ground, handcuffed them, beat them.

“We are young people who love football above all else. They didn’t say who they were. They threw me down, beat me, told me I was a ‘dirty rabbit’ and that they would put a bullet in my head like my friend,” testified Joaquin Gomez, who was at the wheel.

The officers put a handgun inside the vehicle. One of them confessed that he tried to falsify the data.

“Justice was served,” said the victim’s mother Cynthia Lopez, whose life was “torn apart” by Lucas’ death.

“This is a historic conviction in Argentina, so that there will never be another case like that of Lucas Gonzalez. We managed to make the victims and their relatives considered victims of institutional violence” because of “racist hatred”, the lawyer for the young people and their families, Gregorio Dalbon, told the press.