The General Director of Carabineros, Ricardo Yáñez, requested to reschedule the summons to declare that the Public Ministry had dispatched for the investigation into alleged responsibilities of the command in situations that occurred during the social outbreak.
The request, made by General Yáñez’s legal team, made up of lawyers Jorge Martínez and Sergio Contreras, is based on the fact that the superior officer made use of his right established in the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows certain authorities to declare in his workplace or address, as well as propose the date of the procedure. The study responsible for the background, which includes 35 volumes of 750 pages each, is one of the key elements of the decision.
“General Yáñez has always been willing to collaborate in all instances in which he has been required. That is a commitment of his management at the command of Carabineros de Chile,” they indicate.
Regarding the request to testify, which was made by the North Central prosecutor Ximena Chong, the lawyers explained that the highest authority of the uniformed police “made use of his right enshrined in article 301 of the Criminal Procedure Code, this is, that he can deliver his testimony in the place where he exercises his functions or his address, as well as propose the date of the procedure.
The jurists Martínez and Contreras explained that the decision is based mainly on three elements: “The first is related to the exercise of defense. Only in September was the defense given a copy of the investigative folder, which has 35 volumes, each with 750 pages. So, it is necessary to responsibly study all this material that the investigation has compiled.”
The second, the lawyers explained, is related to the general’s tight agenda due to his position: “During September, General Yáñez spent a week at the UN, and then focused on activities related to the National Holidays. In this framework, it has not been possible to arrange a meeting between General Yáñez and his legal team, something that is essential to exercise a proper defense”.
And the third aspect is related to hierarchy. “In our opinion, since it is the general director of the Carabineros, it is appropriate that the summons be issued by the regional prosecutor or the national prosecutor, failing that,” said the lawyers Martínez and Contreras.
