The Seventh Guarantee Court of Santiago rejected the request of the Public Ministry to advance the judicial statement of the former general director of Carabineros, Mario Rozas, in the framework of the case that investigates the role of the High Command of the police institution in the violations of the Human Rights (DD.HH.) during the social outbreak of 2019.
The Central North prosecutor Ximena Chong had argued that it was necessary to carry out this procedure by the end of this month, “in attention to the duty of due diligence and reasonable time that should guide judicial responses to investigations of this nature.” And although in the first instance it had had a favorable resolution, this time the court opted for the position of the defense of General (R) Rozas.
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In this way, the court dismissed the request of the Public Ministry and maintained the date March 21, 2023, a statement that will be made in the presence of a guarantee judge. In its resolution, the court specified that this procedure “is a voluntary action of the accused, so that the investigation continues with its normal course, without this implying a stoppage or hindering it.”
Close to Rozas’ defense, they stressed that this resolution implies a setback for prosecutor Chong. They pointed out that Rozas has already made a voluntary statement in two cases: the investigation for crimes against humanity, carried out by the V Region Prosecutor’s Office, and the case in which the circumstances in which Gustavo Gatica was injured are being investigated.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition, Rozas’s defense sent a request to the North Central Regional Prosecutor’s Office to marginalize the prosecutor in charge. In the opinion of the Carabineros officer, Chong, “it does not give guarantees of impartiality.”
