Three Members of the Mapuche Support Network are Sentenced to Three Years of Restricted Release

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 Three Members of the Mapuche Support Network are Sentenced to Three Years of Restricted Release

In the end, Alex Bahamondes, Eric Von Jenstchyk, and Juan Medina, members of the Mapuche support network for the communities in conflict, were sentenced to three years and a day of restricted release. This was the result of the loaded setup that had accused them of participating in the burning of two trucks in Ercilla, southern Chile, on January 5^th 2008.

The sentence consists of three years of restricted release, the periodic sign in to penitentiary police (Gendarmería), plus the payment of 12 UTM per month for a year ($37 000  CHL, the equivalent to $90 CDN). Initially, the plaintiff headed by the anti-Mapuche prosecutor Miguel Angel Velásquez plead for 7 1/2 years of jail for the accused, however, the inconsistency of the evidence presented inevitably lowered the invented guilt by Chilean State intelligence.

At the same time the defense, still surprised from the guilty verdict, will recur to the Court of Appeal to try to annul the trial in the next 10 days. This would be the only way to reverse the political sentence against our brothers, whose innocence was proven by concrete evidence.

Sentenced because they had to be...

Despite the fact that there was no proof against them, including the many witnesses that sighted them elsewhere at the time of the incidents, the inability to find any elements to link them to the burning of the trucks; no weapons found, no previous personal connection prior to their detention (even after searching their cell phones), no plant traces (on the shoes seized by police) that coincided with the place of the incidents, and the inconsistent statements of prosecution witnesses, they were absurdly sentenced with the lowest penalty they could have received.

This sentence is sustained by a "faceless" witness, presented by the prosecution beneath a screen with no name, who stated to have recognized the accused through the darkness and nervousness. This "recognition" was carried out through viewing 400 photographs, 200 on the computer, as well as the same images printed on paper (who and where the people appear in the photographs are classified under State intelligence services).

These proceedings took place immediately after the incidents took place; that is to say after the truck driver drove from Santiago to Temuco, unloaded the truck, and went back en route to Santiago in the area of Chamicheo, where he took a break on his trip. He is then interrogated and is subject to the viewing of the photographs, without his glasses leading to inevitable stress.

Moreover, this theatrical testimony was the only evidence presented by the prosecution during the 16 months of investigation, which did not even grant them protective custody.

Signs of Repression

The collusion between the government, the police, the courts and the rich of Chile are resulting in cases like this, which have no logic, no proof, and no substance; and their results can be seen clearly. It should be noted that the judges in charge of the sentence, despite having their verdict ready before the beginning of the trial, sentenced the three men to the minimum penalty, which is something never before seen in a "terrorism" trial. The magistrates did not have enough nerve to sentence the accused fully, since setup was so evident, as was the farce of the prosecution.

As we have denounced, we witnessed how the Chilean State has from beginning to end prepared this strike against the Mapuche support networks. It is a vile repressive maneuver whose objective is the harassment of the social support for the Mapuche struggle, and is far from completing its objective.

The Chilean State's necessity to persecute and torture all those who dare to stand against its policies is manifest, in addition to the sham verdict. In sentencing these three youth, the forestry and trucking capitalists, as well as the repressive police are settled, legitimizing the intelligence work of the State. Moreover, a clear signal is given to the Mapuche support network, where they will be persecuted and harassed in any way, shape or form, until they bow to the power of the rich. However, they will difficultly hush and jail the desire of freedom and autonomy of the Mapuche People.

País Mapuche

Distributed by: The Women's Coordinating Committee Chile-Canada

Email: wccc_98@hotmail.com