The key facts

  • Biochemist Miguel Edgardo Battista arrested in Argentina for holding his family captive for six years.
  • Neighbors contacted the police over the children's absence from school and screams from the house.
  • The defense claims the family's isolation was voluntary due to threats related to his scientific work.

Biochemist arrested in Argentina

In the Argentine province of Chubut, police detained biochemist Miguel Edgardo Battista, accused of holding his own family captive for six years. According to Gazeta.Ru, citing Argentina's La Nacion, the family moved to Patagonia in 2020, after which the man stopped letting his relatives leave the house. The neighbors' decision to call the police was prompted by the absence of the teenage children from school, screams coming from the house, and piles of garbage in the yard.

Condition of the victims and investigative measures

During a search, law enforcement found the suspect's 42-year-old wife and his three children (aged 13, 17 and 19) in an extremely grave condition. Court orders Battista into custody, while his wife was placed in a psychiatric ward and the children were handed over to a foster family. It was previously reported that the man had already tortured his partner and kept her in a basement over a phone call from her former partner.

Defense version and contradictions

The suspect's lawyers put forward a different version of events, claiming that the seclusion of the wife and children was voluntary. According to them, the family left the house only at night due to threats and extortion attempts linked to the head of the family's scientific work. This position contradicts the data on the victims' grave physical condition and the facts of confinement recorded during the search.