On 26th June 2018 Francisco Hermosilla, Mario Fuentes Melo and Valeria Echeverría have decided over other people’s lives yet again. This time the three miserable judges of the Fourth Penal Tribunal of Valparaíso performed their roles as cogs of the judicial/prison system from their podiums.
This time they decided to issue a guilty verdict against 6 comrades accused of participating in the disorders of 21st May 2016, when a municipal employee, Eduardo Lara, died suffocated by the fumes produced by the fire in a nearby pharmacy.
The disgusting judicial power pronounced the comrades guilty of the following:
— Miguel Ángel Varela Veas: arson with lethal outcome plus carrying a molotov
— Felipe Ríos Henríque: arson with lethal outcome
— Constanza Gutiérrez Salinas: participation in arson with lethal outcome
— Nicolás Bayer Monnard: for participating in arson with lethal outcome
— Rodrigo Araya Villalobos: for participating in arson with lethal outcome
The prosecutor of the ‘21st May’ case, Cristián Andrade, who demanded sentences from 15 to 25 years, happy that the court accepted his thesis, said: ‘The fact that Eduardo Lara’s death was caused by the fire has generally been acknowledged’.
We remember that the 6 comrades had been on bail with various restrictive measures (reporting to the police station, compulsory residence and house arrest in some cases), but at today’s hearing the prosecutor demanded remand in custody until the sentencing; however the court rejected this demand.
Hugo, Constanza, Nicolás and Rodrigo Araya were present at the hearing, whereas comrades Miguel and Felipe refused to attend, and an arrest warrant was issued against them.
The sentence will be pronounced on 7th July at 10am, as the judge declare the number of years’ sentence against the comrades; subsequently defence lawyers will be able to appeal for the quashing of the verdict.
Today we witnessed an obvious judicial revenge perpetrated during a political trial yet again. The incongruent footage shown by the police or the inconsistency of evidence concerning hydrocarbons and ANI doesn’t count when speculating on who might be responsible. Today the judicial story makes a direct link between the participation in the 21st May disorders, the incendiary attack on a pharmacy and the death by suffocation of a municipal employee locked up by his own bosses a few floors above. The confusion is complete.
The guilty verdict is an attack on struggle in the streets and its overflowing expressions during demonstrations, as the Valparaíso municipality seeks to satisfy its thirst for revenge in its attempt to single out a few responsible. Just as in the past, today neither silence nor passivity are tactics for facing judicial lynching.
Active and insurrectional solidarity with the comrades sentenced!
Let’s accompany, support and open up paths towards the comrades Miguel and Felipe!
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Translated from Italian by act for freedom now!
via: https://anarhija.info
