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Twenty days have passed since on October 2 a police procedure once again ignited criticism of the Carabineros in the use of force. That day, at the Pío Nono Bridge, located in the vicinity of Plaza Baquedano, the young man identified as AAJ A (16) fell from almost seven meters high towards the Mapocho River, in an action for which the prosecution charged the crime of attempted murder to Carabinero Sebastián Zamora (22).
The investigation is progressing in the hands of the prosecutor Ximena Chong, who days after the fact, seized a GoPro camera from the locker of the Carabinero in the Public Order Control Unit (COP), after the defense of the policeman notified the Public Ministry that the accused was carrying a video device on the day of the events.
The existence of this chamber, where what happened that day was recorded, opened two flanks: his discharge from the Carabineros, which took place yesterday, for not informing his commanders that he was carrying the personal GoPro and the defense race for having access to these images that, they say, they have not seen.
For the same, Zamora’s lawyer, Nudia Vivanco, asked Prosecutor Chong for access to these images, although, she says, she has not yet received a response. Furthermore, the court of guarantee denied this request.
“It is curious that the images from the cameras are not made public before the plebiscite. As a defense, we are considering presenting a Caution of Guarantees ”, he said, adding that “today we are not being allowed to defend Sebastián on equal terms. Here equality before the law is being flagrantly violated ”.
Vivanco maintained that “after our notice, the prosecutor Chong asks the guarantee judge for direct access to the images from the camera, even before they were appraised. The prosecutor obtains the ‘ok’ of access to this material in record time, while we are not allowed to access the video until today. We do not understand what is being hidden. What is in the video that must be kept secret. Yesterday the court upheld its decision to formally deny us access, stating that ‘for now’ we cannot see it. It’s all very strange ”.
Zamora is in the process of leaving the institution. Although yesterday it was notified that he was discharged, this is a process that involves various stages, including the appeal.
From the carabinero’s environment they have indicated that there is annoyance with the High Command, since they consider that the policeman was left without defense.
His lawyer, meanwhile, indicated that “that the very institution that formed him, prepared and told him how to act in cases of public disorder, dismissed him with all the social implications that this has, the truth is that it is difficult to understand it from the non-commissioned officer . Something is not right in the Carabineros, and if in order for things to improve and have a better institution we have to stand up and go out into the open to report these problems, we will do so with pride.
Meanwhile, from the “Nos Importan” foundation, a group that provides legal assistance to uniformed persons involved in cases of this nature, they pointed out that “it is of the utmost importance that the defense have the evidence in this case, and that it be done as soon as possible. The only thing the prosecution does is take days off the lawyers for the legitimate defense of Zamora. It is not reasonable that the defense does not have access to the complete information. Zamora is a person with the same defense rights as any Chilean ”.
