Chilean Government withdrew complaint of "terrorism" against Mapuche minors

Source: http://paismapuche.org/?p=5848
November 16, 2012
By: Cidsur

During the development of the third day of the hearing for the trial preparations, in the case brought against two Mapuche minors after having the previous day ruled the exclusion from the procedure of the Public Ministry and the complainant Routes Araucanía SA, the last complainants, the Ministry of Interior and the Municipality of Araucanía, both representatives of the government, withdrew the charges against the minors.

This figure is referred to in the criminal procedure law and was used by the plaintiffs invoking new circumstances, and being unable to continue their pursuit the Public Ministry, which is the body responsible for supporting the prosecution and who led the research and obtained the possible evidence, there did no longer exist for them, as the complainants, guarantees of obtaining a conviction against the minors Patricio Queipul Millanao (Temucuicui) and Luis Marileo Cariqueo (Community José Guiñón).

Defense lawyers are expecting that the important decisions taken at the hearing of the trial preparations, stay firm and effective, that is to say, that they can not be reversed.

With what happened it appears that the persecutions initiated under the aegis of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was invoked in this case in the year 2009, both by the prosecution and by the concertationist government headed by Michelle Bachelet, lacked all rationality.

This meant lengthy pretrial detentions of more than a year and that the defendants, both major and minor, had to resort to measures such as starting a long hunger strike to demand respect for their rights. The extent of the strike has meant important consequences for these community members, as their health has not yet been fully restored.

Still pending are several proceedings in which the prosecution and at first the Government of Chile invoked this legislation restricting rights, all initiated in the aftermath of the Bachelet administration, who during her campaign and the beginning of her mandate promised not to use the Anti-Terrorism Act against the Mapuche people.

The dozens of Anti-Terrorism Act Mapuche defendants, including minors, have had to endure lengthy pretrial detention and the rigor of legislation that does not fully comply with democratic standards and the standards of due process.