The prefects responsible for the murder of Rafael Nahuel were convicted

This morning the sentence of the trial for the murder of Rafael Nahuel, the young Mapuche who was murdered by members of the Albatros Group of the Prefecture in a violent persecution and repression, after an eviction attempt in Villa Mascardi occurred on November 25, 2017, was announced. excess of self-defence, and to eight years’ disqualification from practising as a public official. On the other hand, the prefects Francisco Javier Pintos; Juan Ramón Obregón; Carlos Valentín Sosa and Sergio García received a sentence of four years and six months as necessary participants and also seven years of disqualification. The oral and public trial began on August 14 of this year, following a request from the Secretariat of Human Rights to set the date without further delay and in compliance with the commitment assumed with the victim’s family, to guarantee a fair trial that does not leave acts of this nature unpunished. The prefects came to trial accused by the prosecution as co-perpetrators of homicide by excess in self-defense, while the Secretariat in its role as plaintiff asked for life imprisonment for the five accused. During the course of the hearings, the Secretariat’s team of lawyers sought to prove that it was a qualified homicide, in the context of a deliberate pursuit with lethal ammunition shots of members of the Mapuche community who escaped by throwing stones. In the closing argument, it was explained, among other aspects, that the defendants fired at least 151 times with lethal ammunition, that they were instructed to wait for reinforcements and that, however, they disobeyed the order and went out to kill. At the end of the hearing to read the verdict, Secretary Pietragalla Corti confirmed that the Secretariat is going to appeal the sentence and stressed that “the Justice convicted the five responsible for the murder of Rafael Nahuel and determined that there was no legitimate defense on the part of the prefects as Patricia Bullrich proposed at the time.” The official also said that “the ruling shows that institutional violence and repression in the context of a protest cannot be carried out with lethal weapons.” The paradox of this situation is that today there are five convicted of following orders from a Ministry, and that whoever gave those orders that ended the life of Rafael Nahuel and injured other people, has the possibility of being Minister of Security again,” added Pietragalla. accompanied by the National Director of Policies against Institutional Violence, Mariano Przybylski and the team of lawyers from the Secretariat, and the complaint of the parents and the APDH, Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.

Original source in Spanish