Today, in the Guarantee Court of La Serena, the subject who yesterday threw a stone against President Gabriel Boric in that city, in the Coquimbo Region, was formalized.
The event occurred after 3:00 p.m. when the President arrived at the offices of the regional government of that city to lead a meeting with the highest authorities in the area. There, the 31-year-old subject threw a stone that landed on the chest of his chief of staff, Matías Meza-Lopehandia.
At the hearing, Judge Pedro Rojas accepted the request of the defense attorney Inés Rojas not to disclose the name of the subject, with the initials SAMA, nor publish images of his face or personal data.
Prosecutor Andrés Gálvez recounted the events, pointing out that Boric, in the midst of his activity, “at one point approached the papal bars that separate the public to be able to greet. At that time, while this was taking place and his entourage, both administrative and security, was around him, the accused, taking advantage of precisely this crowd that gathered at the scene, rushed violently against His Excellency the President of the Republic, throwing a stone with clear intentions of injuring him, which finally hit his Chief of Staff Matias Meza-Lopehandia. He particularly hit him in the left chest, this stone bounced hitting His Excellency in the back”.
After that, the subject fled the site and was later arrested by Carabineros personnel after a struggle. The persecutor charged the crime of attack on authority. In addition, he specified that, for the moment, the government has not filed a complaint for the fact.
For her part, the defense attorney charged that the detention was illegal because there was no complaint or complaint filed by the Ministry of the Interior. The lawyer invoked Article 26 of Law 12,297 on State Security. In it, according to what she said, it is stated that the detention can be carried out “due to complaints or complaints from the Ministry of the Interior, the respective regional mayor or the authority or person affected.”
“Therefore, this fact could not even have been initiated its investigation according to what is expressed in Article 26 of what I have reported,” he explained. The prosecutor defended himself by saying that the events occurred less than 24 hours ago and that the chief of staff gave a statement to the Carabineros at 6:30 p.m. yesterday, which could be considered a complaint. “The complaint exists because the victim, at least one of them in this case, has given a statement.”
To resolve the intervention, the judge gave an hour of recess. After the break, the prosecutor affirmed that the fact does warrant arrest, regardless of the filing of a legal action: “The accused threw a stone at the highest authority in the country and fled the scene. The question we must ask ourselves is whether or not that conduct warrants arrest and the answer is clear and yes, it warrants arrest and for two days.”
The defender said that the declaration of Meza-Lopehandia before Carabineros cannot be taken as a complaint. “The President of the Republic, shortly after these events occurred, declares that he is not going to file a complaint nor is he going to ask the Ministry of the Interior to file a complaint. We want to be clear and precise that the rights of our defendant are being restricted in terms of his freedom due to a situation that, according to a special, current law, is clear and precise: there must be a prior complaint”.
After hearing the arguments of both parties, the judge accepted the arguments of the defense and declared the detention of the subject illegal. “The defender is not questioning whether there is a flagrant crime or a flagrant act, or whether or not she could be arrested. What she questions is that he (detained) could not be here in this court today and should have been summoned if the prosecution estimated that he had committed a crime. How to quote all people”, said the judge.
After that, the prosecutor sought to formalize the accused, which could not be done due to the illegality of the detention declared by the court. “Technically it has to be consistent with what I just pronounced,” replied the magistrate, who then ordered the release of the detainee.