During this Friday, the Oral Criminal Court of Concepción was to begin the opening arguments of the trial against the former member of the Coordinadora Arauco Malleco, Emilio Berkhofffor the crime of trafficking 823 kilos of cocaine base paste.
Specifically, they point out that there were incidents -which they did not deepen- that motivated the complainants to request the suspension of the allegations until said situation is resolved. The defense also requested the postponement, to which the court accepted the requests.
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As stated Third, the presiding magistrate of the chamber, Michele Bascur, specified that the opening arguments of the trial will take place from next Monday, July 25 at 08:30. The judge Cecilia Grant and the judge Gonzalo Diaz -writer of the sentence- complete the courtroom.
For her part, the prosecutor of the Concepción Drugs Unit, Carla Hernandezand the prosecutor Patricio Aravena are in charge of carrying out the investigation against the former member of the CAM, Hernández on the allegations indicated that “the trial began after some incidents raised.”
“Once these incidents were resolved by the court, the trial hearing began, the opening order was read by the presiding magistrate and the opening arguments of the parties, understood as the Public Ministry, plaintiffs, the Presidential Delegation and the defenses are going to begin the Monday,” he added.
Case
It should be noted that Berkhoff was arrested on June 12, 2020 in the Los Vilos commune, Coquimbo region, when he was traveling in a truck that was part of a “caravan”, which was carrying a shipment of drugs to the city of Conception. The group had safe-conducts from the Virtual Police Station through false employment contracts, since as it was the first part of the pandemic, transit in Chile was restricted.
For this event, 19 people were charged, but in the case of Berkhoff, the prosecution is asking for a sentence of 13 years for trafficking and 541 days for the use of a false public instrument. The other 18 defendants ask for sentences based on their degree of participation in the criminal operation.
Berkhoff’s Words
Before the announcement of the recess of the trial for Monday, Berkhoff asked for the floor to speak on behalf of the accused from the Bio Bío Penitentiary Detention Center. “Your Honor, good morning, we wanted to talk to our defender César Ramírez and we also wanted to present him with a situation that is happening here in the prison,” he began his speech.
I continue pointing out the poor conditions in which they are inside the prison. “It happens that here not all the defendants are going to testify and those who testify have agreed to testify electronically because the quarantine process that the Gendarmerie imposes here, I would say, is even an attack on our human rights,” he said.
The court announced that it will send a letter to the Gendarmerie to report the situation.
