This Tuesday marked a key moment in the life of Julieta Prandi: the oral trial against her ex-husband, the restaurant entrepreneur Claudio Contardi, who is accused of "sexual abuse with aggravated carnal access for causing serious harm to the victim's mental health, with a series of repeated acts".
He is the father of her two children, Mateo and Rocco, and the legal process now moving forward represents an opportunity for the actress to close a painful chapter, marked by bureaucracy and waiting.
Hours before the start of the trial, Prandi was approached by the press near Radio Mitre, in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. She was visibly emotional, yet firm, as she spoke about the moment she is experiencing.
Julieta Prandi y Claudio Contardi
"I'm preparing myself with my partner, my parents, my sister, with therapeutic support. From the moment I reported it, it was an agony due to bureaucracy, the slowness of the justice system, things that made you doubt all the time whether they would find their way," she began by saying.
"Finally, it went to oral trial, but it took a very long time. Now I have faith not only in the lawyers, but in the judges who are going to listen to everything I had to go through, as well as the witnesses, the evidence, and the expert examinations I underwent as the victim. My ex-partner never allowed, testified, or submitted to the expert examinations," she recalled.
In a conversation with Desayuno Americano (América TV), the model revealed that she has not spoken to Contardi since she left the family home. "It was February 14, 2019, the day I left home," she said.
Julieta Prandi lleva más de seis años en lucha con su exmarido
Looking ahead to the trial, she requested not to have direct contact with him in the courtroom: "The first thing I asked for is not to see him. There will be a screen or I will be in an adjoining room. He is under house arrest, but a restraining order will be requested because, of course, I have my concerns for my safety and that of my children."
Regarding the possible sentence, Prandi explained that it could be significant: "The sentence he faces is up to 50 years. That doesn't mean the judges will decide that, or 30, I do not know".
