Court finds Héctor Llaitul guilty of usurpation, theft and attack against authority – La Discusión 2024-05-07 14:43:47

The Oral Criminal Court of Temuco handed down this Monday a condemnatory verdict once morest the leader of the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM), Héctor Llaitul, as the author of crimes contemplated in the State Security Law, violent usurpation, simple theft and attack once morest The authority.

At today’s hearing, the court declared Llaitul guilty of all the crimes with which he was charged, also highlighting the “incitement once morest public order”, which was proven through calls he made to carry out arson attacks and sabotage once morest forestry companies. .

During this trial – which began on March 12 – telephone interceptions and positioning, journalistic interviews and protest pamphlets were considered as evidence.

Regarding this, the court described the investigation once morest the now convicted man as “careful and effective,” who has remained in preventive detention since August 2022.

For its part, the High Complexity Prosecutor’s Office of La Araucanía – which requests 25 years in prison for the CAM leader – highlighted that the sentence will be effective, since he lacks irreproachable previous conduct.

The sentence will be announced at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, via Zoom.

Prior to the Court’s decision, the Mapuche leader had asked to be acquitted, claiming to be only a spokesperson for the communities in resistance.

“I believe that today marks a milestone for the Mapuche cause: a resolution must have a basis, concrete, objective and well-founded evidence in relation to whether or not the links exist for the crimes that are attributed to me, and in relation to that I request the acquittal and justice in this process,” Llaitul declaimed before the magistrates, also making a strong criticism of the plaintiff lawyers, the forestry companies and the Government.

Regarding the Court’s decision, Victoria Bórquez, one of Llaitul’s defense lawyers, announced that they will present “the appeal for annulment relevant to this case, and we hope that that appeal will be accepted.”

With this judicial action they seek that “our client finally ends up being acquitted of these charges that, we understand, (are) in any case unfair,” also warning that they were able to appreciate “throughout the process, what was the type of investigation that was carried out.” in this case: a clearly directed investigation.”