Agustín Ramón Martínez

Agustín Ramón Martínez Martínez (born August 28, 1961), known as Israeli Soldier (Spanish: Soldado Israelí) is a Paraguayan-Israeli serial killer and fraudster who killed at least six people in Argentina and Paraguay from 1993 to 2018, but is suspected in other murders. For his latest murder, he was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.

Agustín Ramón Martínez
Born
Agustín Ramón Martínez Martínez

(1961-08-28) August 28, 1961
San Patricio, Paraguay
Other names"Israeli Soldier"
Yamel Yamil Oskiski
Yamel Yamil Fresmann
Conviction(s)Murder x3
Criminal penalty8 years (Bianco)
6 years (Vargas)
40 years (Cardozo)
Details
Victims6–7+
Span of crimes
1993–2018
CountryArgentina, Paraguay
(possibly Israel)
State(s)Santa Fe, Paraguarí
Date apprehended
For the final time on May 23, 2018

Early life

Agustín Ramón Martínez Martínez was born on August 28, 1961, in San Patricio, Misiones Department.[1] He grew up in a Jewish family and moved with them to Israel when he was young. He married there, but eventually returned to Paraguay after his wife died under suspicious circumstances. Interpol later sought to investigate him over the case, but never charged him due to a lack of evidence.[2]

Once in Paraguay, Martínez allegedly began working as a thief and hitman for organized crime groups, and was arrested multiple times in his home country and in Argentina. During these arrests, he claimed that his real name was Yamel Yamil Oskiski (or Fresmann) and that served as a mercenary for the IDF during the Gulf War.[3] These claims have never been confirmed, and are widely believed to be fabricated.

Serial murders

Martínez committed his first known murder on May 31, 1993, when he shot and killed ranch foreman Pascual Pedro Bianco in Santa Fe, Argentina over a land dispute. Bianco's wife, Nélida Elena Borsatto, was also wounded but survived. After the murder, Martínez dismembered the body and set the remains on fire. He was quickly caught, convicted and sentenced to 8 years imprisonment, but escaped a year into his sentence and returned to Paraguay.[1]

It is believed that during his escape he committed another murder on August 25, 1994. On that date, a truck driver named Miguel Ángel Flores García's burned body was found next to his truck along Route 1 near Caapucú, with an autopsy determining that he had been shot three times. Suspicion fell on Martínez due to his similar modus operandi, but he was never charged with the crime.[1]

On April 11, 1995, he shot and burned the body of cattle rancher Ignacio Antonio Vargas, known as 'Nene', who owned the Ypoa Ranch in Quiindy.[1] At the time, Martínez had been working as a secretary-bodyguard for him, but his motive for the crime is unclear.

As a result of his escape from Argentina and the subsequent murders in Caapucú and Quiindy, Interpol issued an arrest warrant for him. He was captured in Asunción on November 7, 1998, after a heated gun battle with police. Since he could only be positively linked to the murder of Vargas, Martínez was convicted of that murder and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. While in prison, he claimed that he had pertinent information relating to the AMIA bombing, due to which he was extradited to Argentina in 2001 in order to testify and serve his sentence for the 1993 murder.[4] Upon his release, Martínez again returned to Paraguay.[1]

On May 23, 2009, 50-year-old former councilman and cattle rancher Ricardo Cecilio Cabello Cazal, along with his farmhands Hilario Marecos and Alberto Medina Blanco, were murdered, their bodies dismembered and subsequently burned in an oven in Ybycuí.[5] A few days later, Martínez, who was working as a business partner and bodyguard for Cabello at the time, was arrested as the main suspect.[5] Several other men were arrested as alleged accomplices as well.[6] He was held awaiting trial for the triple murder until 2015, when he was released thanks to a habeas corpus given for a judicial delay, due to the fact that he had not been given a firm sentence during that time.[2]

Final murder

On May 22, 2018, 54-year-old lawyer Lucilo Nicolás Cardozo Salina received a call from Martínez, an acquaintance of his, telling him that he needed him for a court case in Encarnación.[7] Cardozo went out in his pickup truck, a Mitsubishi Triton, and picked up Martínez along the Route 1 in Yaguarón.[2] Along the way, Martínez shot him with a sawed-off 7.62 caliber rifle before dismembering and burning the body, which he buried before stealing the truck.[8] Cardozo's wife, after taking notice of her husband's absence, tracked the truck with a GPS and located it at Martínez's home.[2] On the following day, Martínez was arrested as the prime suspect in Cardozo's disappearance.[9]

Trial and imprisonment

After his arrest, Martínez instantly confessed that he had a hand in Cardozo's disappearance, but denied killing him. According to his claims, an alleged drug trafficker named Lucio Santiago Godoy Quiñónez promised him $10,000 if he delivered the lawyer to him, which he accepted.[7] Once he was picked up by Cardozo, he took him to an area where Godoy and another man, Alex Heiki Willer Fidalski, killed him.[10][11] The men, whom Martínez alleged to be members of the Brazilian criminal group PCC, later tasked him with disposing of the body and the truck. In order to back up his claims, he showed the burial site to the investigators, with the body being recovered a few days later.[12]

Over the course of the investigation, multiple other suspects were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder, but investigators eventually ruled out third-party involvement.[13] Due to this, some hypothesized that the actual reason for Cardozo's murder was that Martínez could steal his truck. On his part, Martínez repeatedly professed that he was only guilty of disposing of the body, and later claimed that he was tortured by police officials.[14]

Martínez's trial was postponed a total of eleven times due to various issues.[15] After it finally started in 2022, he was found guilty of killing Cardozo and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.[16] During the sentencing, he reacted violently and attempted to assault the officers guarding him, which resulted in him being subdued and handcuffed.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Uno de los criminales más sanguinarios del Paraguay" [One of the bloodiest criminals in Paraguay]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). May 28, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  2. ""Soldado israelí", sospechoso de triple asesinato" ['Israeli Soldier' suspected of triple murder]. La Nación (in Spanish). May 23, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  3. ""Soldado israelí", el fantasioso e insaciable asesino y pirómano" ['Israeli Soldier', the fanciful and insatiable murderer and pyromaniac]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). July 10, 2022. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  4. "Asesino del abogado ligado a atentado a AMIA (85 muertos) y "acá mimado de la justicia"" [Murderer of lawyer linked to the AMIA attack (85 dead) and 'spoiled by justice here']. HOY (in Spanish). May 23, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  5. Carlos Oviedo (May 24, 2009). "En la estancia de Cabello encuentran restos calcinados" [Charred remains found at the Cabello ranch]. Última Hora (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  6. Emilce Ramírez (September 22, 2009). "Exhuman restos de ganadero y peones" [Exhume remains of rancher and laborers]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  7. "Salió libre con hábeas corpus y lo vinculan con otro muerto y quemado" [He was released with habeas corpus, and has now been linked to another death and burial]. Última Hora (in Spanish). May 24, 2018. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022.
  8. Emilce Ramírez (May 24, 2018). "Secuestran, fusilan, incineran y entierran a un abogado en Yaguarón" [A lawyer is kidnapped, shot, burned and buried in Yaguarón]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  9. "El "Soldado israelí", sospechoso en al menos seis crímenes" [The 'Israeli Soldier', suspected in at least six crimes]. Resumen de Noticias (in Spanish). May 27, 2018. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022.
  10. Emilce Ramírez (May 25, 2018). ""Soldado israelí" va a prisión una vez más acusado de matar y quemar gente" ['Israeli Soldier' Goes To Prison Once Again, Accused Of Killing And Burning People]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  11. "Detenido brindó detalles del crimen de abogado" [Detainee provided details of the lawyer's crime]. Resumen de Noticias (in Spanish). May 23, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  12. "Hallan cuerpo que sería de abogado desaparecido" [Body of missing lawyer found]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). May 23, 2018. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  13. "Negligencia de la fiscalía" [Prosecutorial negligence]. ABC-TV (in Spanish). 2018 – via PressReader.
  14. "Presunto asesino serial pide cierre de su caso y dice ser inocente" [Presumed serial killer asks to close his case and says he is innocent]. Última Hora (in Spanish). September 30, 2019. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  15. "Supuesto asesino serial recusa a tribunal y juicio queda suspendido" [Alleged serial killer challenges the court and trial is suspended]. Última Hora (in Spanish). October 9, 2019. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  16. "Tribunal condena a 40 años de cárcel a "Soldado Israelí" por homicidio doloso" [Court sentences 'Israeli Soldier' to 40 years in prison for intentional homicide]. Última Hora (in Spanish). July 6, 2022. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022.
  17. "Condenan a 40 años de cárcel a 'Soldado Israelí'" ['Israeli Soldier' Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison]. El Nacional (in Spanish). July 7, 2022. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022.
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