Wallmapuwen Demands the Lliberation of leader detained by Lautaro Court

By Azkintuwe – Temuko, Wallmapu – 05/08/10

Penchuleo, former mayoral candidate for Wallmapuwen, was detained inside the court after serious altercations brought on after preparations for an oral hearing of 12 Mapuche campaigners. Wallmapuwen (The nationalist mapuche political party) reject the “brutal and abusive” proceedings undertaken by the Chilean police.

Photo: Azkintuwe - Achive

Its most vigorous rejection yet of the proceedings brought by the Chilean police was expressed in Temuko by the Executive Committee of the Wallmapuwen Mapuche Party, after the discovery of the detention in the Lautaro court of the leader of the nationalist party, Luis Penchuleo Morales. Penchuleo, former mayoral candidate for Wallmapuwen, was detained inside the court after serious altercations brought on after preparations for an oral hearing of 12 Mapuche campaigners. All are being investigated for contravening the Anti-Terrorist Law and since 12th July have been on a prolonged hunger strike.

The events unfolded when Judge Haydeé Roa refused to admit a petition from the campaigners’ defence team asking for further explanation of the summons which was pronounced at the opening of the trial. According to the defence, the evidence presented by the district attorney of the Public Ministry turned out to be “incomplete and barely intelligible”, and they condemned not having had access to the expert photographs which appeared during the course of the investigation. The magistrate's denial resulted in two of the accused demanding a verbal explanation of her decision, both giving up the task to their respective defence lawyers.

The aforementioned events ended in the solidarity of the other campaigners and their families who were present in the court, giving rise to an altercation in which the prison officers, the police and members of the press were involved. They were prevented from carrying out their investigative work by members of the Police. In the light of these incidents the magistrate ordered the room to be cleared, which served only to increase the tension, provoking scuffles and a violent response from the picket line of Special Forces who were guarding the perimeter of the court. In the scuffle three Mapuche people were detained, the young nationalist leader amongst them.

In response to this Wallmapuwen denounced yesterday the "brutal and abusive actions of the Chilean Police, which originated in the incidents and subsequent detentions of our brothers and sisters in the court." The Executive Committee described the detention of Luis Penchuleo as the use of "provocation and scare tactics." They added "the detention arose from the attention paid by our leader to young Mapuche people accused by the Anti-Terrorist Law...our brothers were taken by the Military Police from the court room rather than being left where the incidents took place,” denounced the Mapuche political party in a public statement.

Visited in the police station

Gustavo Quilaqueo, ex-president of the Mapuche Party and who visited Penchuleo in the police station where he remains imprisoned, gave details of what had happened. “With a party delegation we visited this evening Luis and we were able to obtain more background information on his detention. He indicated to us that he had never participated in the events mentioned in the court room, on the contrary, he had intended to assist the journalists who were being brutally beaten by the Military Police and for that he was finally isolated and detained by the Police," described Quilaqueo.

“He’s fine, calm, we conversed briefly and he’s in good humour, he knows that what he’ll have experienced after one night in the cells is nothing compared to what other Mapuche people have suffered, imprisoned in this supposed democracy", pointed out Quilaqueo. "He repeated to us that he would be as a party leader helping those members of our community accused by the Anti-Terrorist Law, all of them victims of the criminalization of an historic conflict in which the previous administration and the new government are stubbornly refusing to tackle with any political measures.”

With the events of those ten hours on Thursday attention remains focused on where Penchuleo and the other two detainees will be put, at the disposal of the court. “We have the hope that he will be set free, but with Chilean justice we have learned not to take anything for granted. Luis has told us that they want to unjustly accuse him of violence against the Police. If this occurs, the case should be taken out of the military justice system, which in Chile has the absurd responsibility of also trying civilians. We hope that nothing irregular happens and that he will be freed tomorrow," finished Quilaqueo.

Source: Azkintuwe

Translated by Lucy Harding
Mapuche International Link