For this Monday, September 28, the reading of the second instance ruling against businessman Andrés Gustavo Ricci, for the femicide of former world skating champion Luz Mery Tristán Gil, executed on the night of August 5, 2023, in house 6 of the El Mameyal parcel, in the drips of Cali.
On March 4, 2025, the court 14 Criminal of the capital of the Valley had already sentenced Ricci to pay 45 years and 9 months in prison. However, The decision was appealed by his defense and the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO accessed for the first time the ruling of the Superior Court of Cali that has just resolved that appeal, eliminating a charge and adjusting the assessment of other conduct.
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The confirmed evidence
Andrés Gustavo Ricci García, murderer of Luz Mery Tristán. Photo:Attorney General’s Office
The high court reviewed the evidence provided by the Prosecutor’s Office and by the lawyer for Tristán’s family – the criminal lawyer Luis Valero -, which indicates that the version according to which Ricci accidentally fired one of the weapons he was carrying is false, because his partner refused to open the door to one of the rooms in his house, after having a heated argument that included physical attacks against Tristán, which left marks on his face.
In fact, they provided the testimony of a member of the Police who attended the scene of the crime and assured that the door was unlocked and that the only thing preventing it from opening was the lifeless body of the former champion.
“At that moment, given Luz Mery Tristán’s intention to take shelter in the room behind a door, Andrés Gustavo Ricci, Using a firearm and with full intention to kill, he shot her repeatedly, at least four times against the door, knowing that Luz Mery Tristán was behind her.“, reads the ruling, with a presentation by Judge Orlando de Jesús Pérez Bedoya.
In the middle of the trial it was also noted that Ricci physically, verbally and psychologically attacked the former skating champion: “Behavior displayed in the exercise of acts of power and subordination that Mr. Andrés Gustavo Ricci exercised against the victim for being a woman, throughout the romantic relationship, with stages of separation and reconciliation.”
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Cell phone and lies
This is how the entrance to the room where Luz Mery was was left, after a discussion with Andrés Ricci. Photo:THE TIME
Testimonies from those close to the couple indicated that Tristán constantly changed his cell phone number to avoid calls. from people outside her family and that she had to send screenshots of private conversations and make video calls to Ricci to show her where she was, affecting her psychologically..
It is also reported that Ricci gave a version according to which the former skater had tried to take her own life and that she shot with the purpose of opening the door and protecting it. However, this explanation was ruled out because the expert autopsy report did not reveal self-inflicted injuries or elements that supported the hypothesis of suicidal behavior.
The file even states that Ricci had consumed cocaine and whiskey the day he murdered Tristán and it was learned that he had already been in Cuba receiving treatment to rehabilitate himself for an addiction to narcotics and liquor.
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Modifications and decision
One of the weapons is a Heckler & Koch brand pistol, caliber 7.65 mm. Photo:Photo: Provided by the authorities
Nevertheless, In the decision, which will be known in its entirety this Monday and which is already in the hands of EL TIEMPO, the Court made two adjustments to the ruling in the first instance.
Although a ballistics expert -Eduar René Gracia Velásquez- established that one of the weapons seized in the property, carried by Ricci, was compatible with one of the entry and exit holes found in the door of the auxiliary room, as well as with the path of the projectile that hit the body of the former skater, the conviction for illegal possession of weapons was revoked.
In effect, for the magistrates, the Prosecutor’s Office was unable to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Andrés Ricci lacked a valid permit to carry the 2 weapons that were found on him, which is why, in application of the principle In Dubio Pro Reo (doubt in favor of the prisoner)his conviction for that conduct was revoked, which automatically reduced the initial sentence.
The ruling against Andrés Ricci, known exclusively to EL TIEMPO. Photo:EL TIEMPO/ Private Archive
And there was a second adjustment to the sentence. Although it was discarded flatten the defense’s request to convict Ricci of manslaughter, secondarily, as simple manslaughter by way of possible fraud; The penalty for femicide was measured.
In effect, it was reduced by 25 months, leaving it at 41 years and 8 months in prison. The reason: The first instance judge placed himself at the minimum quarter of the sentence – between 500 and 525 months – however, within that quarter he did not impose the lower end, but instead opted for 525 months, without exposing any reason relating to the seriousness of the conduct.
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Cassation appeal
Luz Mery Tristán’s family insists that it was a femicide. Photo:Juan Pablo Rueda
Despite the reduction, for people close to the case, due to age for Ricci (61 years old), the penalty is equivalent to a life sentence, despite the fact that in Colombia there is no such penal dosage.
For this reason, they hope that their defense will resort to the extraordinary appeal of cassation, provided for in this type of case. Ricci’s defense has been insisting that there is no gender motive (feminicide), characterizing the witnesses “of the alleged circle of violence as suspects and ensuring that no one directly witnessed a physical assault.”
But one of the witnesses said that after Tristan’s return to the country after a trip to the United States, she heard how Ricci told him over the loudspeaker phrases like “I’m going to find you” and “I’m going to kill you.”
“The previous versions under oath, given by people close to the now deceased, without the kinship link of some making them lose the seriousness and, therefore, credibility of their statements, while the narrative is perceived as natural and objective, demonstrate that, prior to the fatal event, there was a cycle of violence in the relationship –so out of psychological order– deployed by Ricci García against Luz María, including death threats,” the file reads.
And although they removed Ricci from a crime and reduced his sentence, He will continue to be held in the high security prison of Picaleña (Tolima).
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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