Santiago de Chile.- A Chilean court ordered on Friday to replace the pre-trial detention for the main policeman accused of the 2018 murder of mapuche comunero Camilo Catrillanca, an event that shocked Chile and whose trial is kept suspended by the coronavirus pandemic. The Judiciary indicated on his Twitter account that the Court of Appeals of Temuco, in the south of the country, changed the precautionary measure to Carlos Alarcón, the formercarabinero (Chilean policeman) who allegedly fired the bullet that ended the life of the indigenous commune.
Alarcón, who was expelled from the security force, is one of eight defendants in the case – seven formercarabinieri and a lawyer – but the only one who remained on remanding. The Prosecutor’s Office is seeking sentences of up to 15 years in prison against the eight charged for manslaughter, foiled manslaughter, illegitimate premation and prevariication, among other crimes. To get the latest news about coronavirus, sign up by clicking on this space and we’ll send you the information instantly. The court’s decision amid the suspension of the trial for Catrillanca’s death, which was to have begun last November but began on 5 March and is expected to resume July, when the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to pass.
NOW Catrillanca Case: Court of Appeals of Temuco replaces the pre-trial detention of Carlos Alarcón Molina and orders the injunction of total house arrest. pic.twitter.com/QMR75Hx3VY — Judiciary Chile (@PJudicialChile)
April 17, 2020
Chile, which recorded its first case on 3 March and already accumulates in Chile a total of 9,252 contagions and 116 deaths, is under the state of emergency, with a curfew from 22.00 hours, suspended classes, borders and non-needs closed and several cities quarantined. Catrillanca, 24, was shot in the back of the head on November 14, 2018 while travelling with a minor on a tractor through the Mapuche community of Temucuicui, in the southern region of La Araucanía.Alarcón, the alleged author of the shooting, said in a first statement that they had been ambushed and that the tractor had crossed over in the shooting. Press-issued footage dismantled his version and revealed an alleged official plot to protect the agents, costing the post to Carabineros’ then-general director, Hermes Soto, and pilloryed then-interior minister Andrés Chadwick, who will testify at trial.
