A man sentenced to 13 years in prison for the murder of Mathieu Martin, a Toulouse resident who disappeared in Argentina

He had started a world tour and from one day to the next no longer gave his news. On August 9, 2018, Mathieu Martin, a 32-year-old globetrotter from the town of Ausonne, near Toulouse, disappeared while on his way to San Isidro de Iruyo, in northern Argentina.

Earlier this week, the Salta court sentenced Juan Cuevas to 13 years in prison for the Frenchman’s murder, while his brother, Froilán, was acquitted with the benefit of the doubt, reports Argentina’s El Tribuno. The two men, who are said to be the last to have seen Mathieu Martin, were accused of having killed him, without his body ever being found by the authorities.

Throughout the investigation, the prosecution was based on testimony and confession, which the two co-accused returned. These inhabitants of a hamlet difficult to access, known for their regular drunkenness, were arrested in December 2018. An arrest that did not convince the family of Mathieu Martin for whom this trial left room for more questions than answers according to their lawyer.