Prosecutor Julio Contardo announced that, after a month of investigation, he will withdraw the homicide charges against the Army corporal Juan Carlos Reyes. He had been charged with the murder of José Miguel Uribe Antipani in Curicó on October 19, within the framework of social demonstrations that have been taking place in the country for months.

According to what the experts and witnesses who were at the ceremony [said], the young man was killed after being shot while he was with a group of people protesting on Route 5 South. In a hearing held on October 23, the soldier was identified as responsible for the shot, who was seen shooting against him. In those days the State of Emergency was in force in the area and the Army had control of public order.

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However, on Monday, December 9, Prosecutor Contardo announced that on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. a new hearing will be held to revoke the corporal’s preventive detention and to charge a new suspect. As expected, social networks exploded against the decision that has been made, because they are seen to reflect an act of injustice and impunity.

“In this hearing, the investigation will be reformed since the background of the investigation one month after the beginning of the investigation established that the soldier had no direct participation in the death of the young man. It [the hearing] is going to request a charge against him for unjustified firing and as this is a misdemeanor, his precautionary detention will be modified,” commented the persecutor.

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“The hearing has also been called to charge the person who, in this investigation, turned out to have fired the shot that caused the death of this young man. He is a person who on the same day had fired shots at civilians in a demonstration. This person is in pretrial detention and is going to be charged for the homicide of the young man,” Contardo added.

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Translated by EF