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A letter to the Chilean President on the Mapuche Political Prisoners by the GfbV President of the Republic of Chile Santiago de Chile Göttingen, 21 April 2006 Dear Mrs. President- On behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples, I wish to express my deepest concerns about the state of health of four Mapuche political prisoners who are on hunger strike in the Angol prison already since 13th March. Patricia Troncoso Robles, Patricio Marileo Saravia, Jaime Marileo Saravia and Juan Carlos Huenulao Lienmil want to achieve a review of the judgement under which they and Pascual Pichún Paillalao, Rafael Pichún Collonao, Aniceto Norin Catriman and Victor Ancalaf Llaupe have been sentenced to unusually long imprisonments of 10 years and fines of more than 400 million Chilean pesos. These sentences are based on the application of law 18.314 created under the Pinochet dictatorship and known as anti-terrorist law. This law is being used against Mapuche engaging in political campaigning to secure their rights to their land and their livelihood. Even though they did not commit crimes against persons they are tried as terrorists. Law 18.314 provides for anonymity of witnesses whose evidence the defence is consequently unable to contest. This law is inconceivable with the Rule of Law. In the course of his monitoring mission in July 2003 the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Indigenous peoples Rodolfo Stavenhagen forcefully condemned the use if this law to try Mapuche. For decades now the Mapuche have been suffering from persecution and discrimination. During your election campaign you stated that it was one of your goals to ascribe more importance to the Mapuche and their needs, for example by ratifying the ILO Convention 169. I appeal to you to follow this promise and to ensure that the judgements of the Mapuche political prisoners will be reviewed, that law 18.314 will no longer be applicable to Mapuche civil-rights activists and to grant freedom to the Mapuche political prisoners. Sincerely, Tilman Zülch |