He The Oral Criminal Court (TOP) of Arica resolved that the trial against the Los Gallegos clan, the operational arm of the Aragua Train in northern Chile, continue to take place in a blended manner.that is, with the presence of some interveners – such as plaintiffs and prosecutors – and the electronic appearance of the 38 defendants.
The technical feasibility hearing lasted seven hours this Friday in the Arican TOP that the Supreme Court had ordered, after suspending the recently started trial on Monday.
After partially confirming a ruling from the Arican Court of Appeals, relating to an appeal for protection by 19 defendants – who requested that they be allowed to physically attend -, the Supreme Court decided to paralyze the process by concluding that the TOP of Arica «incurred in an illegality » in the original hearing where he decided that the trial would take place remotely, by not informing the defense of the accused of the reasons, contained in a confidential report from the Gendarmerie.
He Arica Court finally resolved semi-presenceunder the same conditions with which the process had begun on Monday, rejecting the defenses’ requests.
The Chamber, in a unanimous decision, «estimates that the appearance of the accused must be electronic» and, in this way, «the hearing will be carried out semi-in-person: this means that some participants will be in the courtroom and others, like the accused, will be connected via telematics in the respective penitentiary centers,» explained magistrate Jairo Martínez.
He explained that The current legislation «authorizes this form of appearance of defendants on an exceptional basis, in particular circumstances that the court understands are generated in this case, due to the impact it would have on the judicial service.
The 38 defendants are serving preventive detention in six prisons in different cities throughout the country: a group of 16 in Arica and the rest in La Serena, Valparaíso, Rancagua, Concepción and Santiago.
The mayor of Arica, Gerardo Espindolavalued the court’s decision, since «the possibility of this developing in person had us in a tension and a threat that we felt as citizens.»
«Now, be careful, we are calm, but always expectant to how the defense of these subjects is going to react. We have already seen how they have used different strategies to even delay this process or be able to reverse the situation and transform it in person,» he warned.
LAST MINUTE!🔴 Gendarmerie reported that it sent a confidential report to the TOP of Arica to avoid the transfer of Los Gallegos and the defenses rejected his incorporation into the case: the court agreed and he will not be incorporated @Cooperative #TrenDeAragua #Arica pic.twitter.com/EUta8kxClk
— Hans Gotterbarm (@hansgotterbarm) April 26, 2024
GENDARMERIA REPORT WILL NOT BE INCORPORATED IN THE CASE
at the hearing The court did accept the request of the defense not to incorporate the confidential Gendarmerie report into the casewhich raised alerts in the Government.
The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalvedefended the work of the penitentiary institution and highlighted that «it has a high level and very good intelligence, and therefore obviously The one who best knows what happens inside the prisons and the possible risks that may be faced as a result of the movement of people deprived of liberty is the Gendarmerie.«.
«Then I think It is very important that Justice, when making decisions, has all the information in view that can be provided by the State,» he pointed out.
The Arica Regional Prosecutor’s Office takes 38 members of Los Gallegos to oral trial – four Chileans and the rest foreigners, mostly Venezuelans -, and requests life imprisonment for 11 of themin addition to other sentences that add up to more than 200 years in prison for the rest.
The accusation includes 22 criminal acts, among which there are seven homicides (six qualified) recorded during 2022: in three the criminals buried their victims in different areas of the Cerro Chuño sector.
The next step is for the court to define the date to resume the oral trial.