The Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, confirmed that the lawyer of the Presidential Delegation of La Araucanía, Luis Martínez Pezo, was fired. This, after the professional fell asleep and did not attend a court hearing in the case of the death of police officer Francisco Benavides.
“The ministry has made administrative decisions regarding that. It seems to us an inexcusable fault, therefore the Ministry has made the decision to dismiss the lawyer. It is an error that seems inexcusable to us,” Monsalve said.
The decision was adopted after knowing the background of the situation, which originated after the absence of the jurist before the court summons set for Monday, June 13, which was the last instance that the Executive had to present an accusation against the crime of the police officer killed in May 2021 in Pailahueque.
It should be remembered that the death of the police officer occurred when personnel from the Second Police Station for Public Order Control of the commune were helping in clearance procedures as a result of various cuts in the routes. At that moment, the policeman was shot in the chest, which caused his death.
According to information from Radio Biobio, The lawyer in question explained to the Collipulli Guarantee Court that he did not attend the summons because he ingested an intravenous analgesic that his doctor gave him to deal with stomach pain. Which made him “fall into a deep sleep and sleep without interruption”.
In a document that he extended to the judges, Martínez regretted being “prevented from being able to exercise, on behalf of my client, the right to join the accusation or present a private accusation with the serious procedural consequences that this entails.”
In addition, the lawyer invoked article 17 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows him to request a new term to enter the procedure for reasons of “force majeure or fortuitous term.”
