[Politics] Minister Cordero's turn around protected witnesses

[FNX Magokiler]

Last April, after a guarantee judge from Temuco adopted a decision similar to that of her counterpart from Arica, Héctor Barraza, in order to lift the secrecy that hung over the identities of the protected witnesses who exist in the case against of the leader of the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco, Héctor Llaitul, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Luis Cordero, de-dramatized the situation, stating in an interview with radio Duna that “what underlies this discussion is the right of the defense to know who is declaring and what is declaring against him, essentially for an issue that is associated with the right to defense. For this reason, probably what Llaitul's defense did in this case was to know the identity of those people to make their theory of the case effective, to see if those people have some level of commitment, the classic thing that can be behind litigation. ”.

In the same sense, he asserted that, however, the defense is obliged to keep the antecedents secret, asserting that the collision between the position of the persecuting body and the defenders is “a tension of two goods that is very common in the law.” ”.

It should be noted that after the Regional Prosecutor of Araucanía, Roberto Garrido, filed an appeal for protection due to this situation, the Supreme Court ended up revoking the decision of the court of first instance, in a ruling that was known on June 2. .

Despite this, Cordero's position was diametrically opposed to what happened in Arica, as he asserted that "what happened with the disclosure of information from protected witnesses and agents who have that condition is extremely serious."

Likewise, distancing himself from his previous statements, he argued that “it is a situation that also occurs in a context where the prosecutor who was in charge of the case, in fact, had protection and was authorized to appear electronically, precisely due to the nature Of the investigation".

 

 

Likewise, he indicated that “this is not just any investigation, this is an organized crime investigation that is extremely complex, where the testimonies and the intervention of the police within it are very relevant. And what happened is serious enough, not only that the Ministry of the Interior, but also the Public Ministry has filed a complaint and appeal for protection," adding that there is already "a precedent with what happened in the case of Temuco, in a similar situation, where the Court revoked this decision.”

*Editorial note: After the publication of this note, Minister Cordero sent to the editorial office of El Mostrador, through his communications manager, a text in which it is indicated that “the note assumes a change of supposedly 'diametrically opposed' position (fourth paragraph of the note). The two cases are totally different. In the Arica case, not only was the data of the protected witnesses revealed (a common tension with the defenses), they were also forced to hand over the data of the undercover agents and, in addition, the judge did not know that the prosecutor was under a protection measure. agreed by the committee of judges - that is why he appeared electronically - and prevented the rest of the participants from debate. The Aragua Train case is the most important and risky investigation into organized crime that currently exists in the country. The note assumes that both issues - on which an alleged contradiction is intended to be built - are factually and legally equal. However, they are different and therefore involve different approaches.”

 

https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2023/09/15/el-giro-del-ministro-cordero-en-torno-a-los-testigos-protegidos/