The prosecution of the political prisoners from the social uprising — mostly people with no criminal record, youths and minors — began in 2020. Some were released for lack of evidence after having spent months to almost a year in jail. This means that they spent about a year or more in jail only to be found innocent of the crimes they were charged with. This situation continues to this day. There are political prisoners condemned to sentences of three to five years and some are at risk of a sentence of more than 20 years. There are numerous cases of political prisoners who have been convicted only with evidence and testimony provided by the Carabineros (police). There have been repeated accusations of police set-ups, mainly in cases linked to Mapuche political prisoners, such as in the case of the Huracán police operation to spy on Indigenous human rights defenders and fabricate evidence against Mapuche activists. There have also been reports of political prisoners who have opted for “abbreviated trials” and have pleaded guilty in order to be released from prison. Groups of relatives of political prisoners, human rights and civil society organizations have denounced the absence of due process, the lack of impartiality on the part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the miscarriage of investigation. The government of President Sebastián Piñera has even sought to convict people under the state’s Internal Security Law in order to increase prison sentences.

Protest demands freedom for political prisoners, Santiago, Chile, August 29, 2021.

Between 2020 and 2021, Mapuche and political prisoners incarcerated for their participation in the social uprising have carried out several hunger strikes in different prisons in Chile. The purpose of these strikes was to denounce the irregularities of the judicial process, the massive use of pre-trial detention and torture experienced in prison. The prison situation in Chile is one of the most critical in Latin America and in the world, and the country has one of the highest rates of incarceration. This reflects the appalling conditions in which political prisoners are held and worsening conditions of confinement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (no right to visits for more than a year, cases COVID-19 infection, lack of access to health care, etc.). Besides the extensive use of preventive detention, the use of house arrest and daily police presence in the homes of political prisoners have a strong impact on the family environment.

References

1. Amnesty International, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, UN High Commission for Human Rights, International Observation Mission for Human and Civil Society Rights, Quebec and Canadian Observation Mission of Human Rights in Chile.

2. “Final Observations concerning the the sixth periodic report on Chile,” Commission Against Torture (CAT) 2018.

3. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, (2014). Caso “Norin Catriman y otros vs Chile”, 29 mayo 2014, p.168-177.

4. El Convenio 169 de la OIT sobre pueblos indígenas y tribales a 10 años de su ratificación por el Estado de Chile. Análisis crítico de su cumplimiento. (2018). Informe de la Central Unitaria de trabajadores de Chile, Observatorio Ciudadano, p.47.

(Photos: SOA Watch)

[BACK]