“In the trial of Jorge Mateluna there were irregularities and an evaluation of the evidence that was not up to justice”.
That was the explanation that President Gabriel Boric gave this afternoon from Brazil after being consulted for the reasons behind the pardon that he gave to the ex-frontist Jorge Mateluna (48), convicted of robbing a bank branch in 2013.
“I have the deepest conviction that in the trial of Jorge Mateluna there were irregularities and an evaluation of the evidence that was not up to justice. This is not a personal opinion or something that I have discussed individually, but it is the opinion of the former dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile, Davor Harasic, who is one of the jurists who has approached the law more seriously. case,” said the President.
Along the same lines, the head of state emphasized that “I am fully convinced of Jorge’s innocence, that is why we have carried out this pardon”.
The pardon for the ex-frontist was added to the other 12 that Boric delivered last week to prisoners convicted of acts related to the social outbreak.
Mateluna He is the only one on the list of those pardoned by President Boric whose process does not correspond to events that occurred during the social crisis of October 2019. It is a former member of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front sentenced to 16 years in prison as one of the perpetrators of the assault on a Santander bank branch in 2013in the Pudahuel commune, although he has always denied his participation in this robbery and has insisted that a series of errors were made during the investigation.
Davor Harasic -the jurist referred to by the President- represented Mateluna when he was director of the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile and, through a statement, valued the President’s decision.
“Several years ago, when we, together with many law professors, studied the case of Jorge Mateluna, we came to the conviction of his innocence and how badly the existing evidence in the file had been weighed. That study led us to the absolute conviction of Jorge’s innocence,” Davor Harasic said Friday.
Meanwhile, regarding the rest of the pardons granted last Friday, today the Head of State explained his decision again and defended the position that they are actions of exclusive attribution of the President of the Republic.
“This is something I pondered for a long time. We tried to do it through the Senate at the time, but there was no will to move in that direction and therefore It is a decision that I have made with full awareness and with great tranquilityBoric emphasized.
In addition, he invited the opposition to retake the security table headed by the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, after Chile Vamos abandoned the instance as a whole as a sign of disapproval of the measure taken by the government.
“I want to say to those who intend to put into play a long, short and long-term agenda in terms of security, by exclusive decisions of the President of the Republic, that they are completely wrong. Here I invite you to return to the table. Chile can no longer wait for us politicians to end our fights in order to have concrete measures. We are going to make security policies, where everyone is invited and where we had a high degree of progress, with those who want to attend”, was the President’s call.
In his speech after the meeting with the recently inaugurated Lula de SilvaThe President also supported the head of Justice, Marcela Ríos, who in recent weeks has been at the center of criticism from the opposition, both for his political management in the frustrated search for a new national prosecutor and for the initial error in the list of those pardoned by the head of state.
“Minister Marcela Ríos has my full support to continue carrying out these talks, which she has done together with Minister Tohá and Minister Uriarte.and I believe that here the security of Chilean men and women has to be above the fights or disagreements that may exist between senators with the Executive, “said Boric.
Regarding the new name that they will have to propose to the Senate for the highest position of the prosecution, the President regretted that “there are senators who prefer to do cocks with the governmentor put their personal appreciations before being able to make a joint decision regarding the body in charge of prosecuting crime in Chile”.
He also ruled out criticism from the opposition that points to the null legislative deployment of the government to obtain the votes that support his proposal for a national prosecutor.l, particularly the roles played by the Ministers of Justice and Segpres, Marcela Ríos and Ana Lya Uriarte respectively.
“For the nomination of both candidates, Morales and Herrera, we talked with the vast majority of senators, we must build a broad two-thirds majority. No candidate of all those proposed by the Supreme Court generates unanimity and consensus, and in the conversations we have had objections are always expressed from one side to one side or from the other side to the other. Therefore, here we must look with grandeur and high vision and think about how to strengthen the Prosecutor’s Office. This is not a cock between the government and the Senate, or it shouldn’t be.”the President insisted on the idea again.