Mapuche Political Prisoners Acquitted in Second Trial

During the afternoon of this Tuesday, July 23, the Los Ángeles Court acquitted the four weichafe of the CAM: Ernesto Llaitul, Nicolás Alcamán, Ricardo Reinao and Esteban Henríquez.

The youth faced a second trial after the annulment of the first one that sought to sentence them to more than 15 years in prison, however it was annulled for lack of concrete evidence that would incriminate them in the act of sabotage attributed to them. This after a long hunger strike carried out in the CP Biobío, Concepción, which always had the support of their mothers and relatives who set up a camp outside the prison.

During this second instance and thanks to the hard work of their defenses, it was possible to determine again that there were shortcomings and inconsistencies in the accounts of witnesses and expert reports, also revealing the manipulation of evidence such as the blood present in a truck that did not belong to any of the former defendants and that sought to incriminate them.

After the acquittal, Ernesto Llaitul declared: “No peñi has to be sorry for fighting for their people and against the forestry companies, this is for political reasons against the CAM and here it was shown that the Southern Macro Zone Task Force and the Prosecutor’s Office even planted evidence to be able to convict us.”

The 4 were received with hugs and laughter by their legal teams and family members outside the court.

By: La Zarzamora/ image: Werken Newspaper