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During the morning of this Tuesday, in the Second Chamber of the Oral Criminal Court (TOP) of Temuco, the trial began against Martín Pradenas, accused of five crimes for sexual abuse and two for rape, which occurred between 2010 and 2019.
Among the initial allegations that were made during this day, the prosecutor Miguel Rojas, reviewed the series of evidence that the Public Ministry has against Pradenas, which he stressed are enough to hold him responsible for the crimes.
In addition, the prosecutor was emphatic in the need to carry out this trial and judge the facts with a gender perspective. “You can’t blame the victims for the defendant’s assaults,” Rojas said at the hearing.
The trial will have approximately 100 witnesses and is estimated to have at least 37 hearings. The accused risks 41 years in prison for the seven crimes.
It should be remembered that Martín Pradenas was deprived of liberty, serving the measure of preventive detention in the Valdivia Penitentiary Center, because he was considered a danger to society.
Antonia Barra Case
Antonia Barra was a 21-year-old girl, who on September 18, 2019 was sexually assaulted by Martin Pradenas in a cabin in the commune of Pucón. A month later, the victim took his own life.
According to different messages that the young woman sent to her acquaintances, she did not decide to denounce the fact, since she feared the reaction of her parents. In addition, when she told the situation to her former pololo, he insulted her and viralized the testimony causing her more revictimization in relation to the fact.
The case provoked the mobilizations of different feminist collectives and the entry of a bill to the National Congress, which seeks to guarantee the rights and dignity of victims of sexual crimes, as well as to typify suicide caused by this type of violence.
[*] This article describes or contains elements of an ongoing court proceeding. There is the possibility that the charges or facts will be dismissed at the end of the investigation or the process, so the person or persons mentioned should NOT be considered as guilty, or the facts as reliable but plausible, until the respective Justice issues a sentence.
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