The Fourth Oral Criminal Court of Santiago annulled the trial when it realized that the prosecutor -through the use of WhatsApp- was giving instructions to one of the witnesses in the case.
This occurred within the framework of a virtual oral trial for robbery on public roads. At that time, the persecutor Israel Muñoz, from the North Central Prosecutor’s Office, mistakenly revealed a message sent to one of the witnesses telling him how to act in the hearing.
The message indicated “it must be said that they started with the cell phone and the victim recovered it.” Given this, the magistrates María Inés Collins, Patricia Bründl and Carolina Herrera determined the annulment of the trial. In addition, they informed the North Central metropolitan regional prosecutor, Xavier Armendáriz, of the situation.
In a conversation with CHV, one of the judges ruled that “something similar had never happened and as it seemed very serious to us, we decided to annul the trial, because due process is a principle that no one can carry out, except a prosecutor.”
