FIDH lawyer Jimena Reyes underscored the importance of the hearings that took place in Costa Rica on the 29th and 30th of May. Besides the litigation, they offered a first reparation for the victims who could finally be heard and were allowed to organise a brief ceremony at the court before the opening of the trial.
FIDH called upon the Court to provide redress to the victims, to order the Chilean state to reform the Antiterrorist Law and to punish judges and prosecutors who discriminated against victims in this case.
After hearing the testimony and pleas at the IACHR, the court will rule on whether the State of Chile violated rights enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights, inter alia the right to equality before the law and non-discrimination, the principle of legality, the right to defense and the right to trial before an impartial judge. This would be a landmark and the first sentencing of the state of Chile for discrimination against the indigenous Mapuche.
Read the full statement in Spanish Sentencia del proceso Mapuche esperada para finales del 2013