Chile: Sebastián Piñera Indicted to International Criminal Court

Chile President Sebastian Piñera has been indicted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity since the onset of the social riots in October 2019.

The accusation was brought by the Chilean Human Rights Commission (CChDH) and former Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon, well known for his involvement in an indictment against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

A statement by the CChDH’s president, Carlos Margotta, points out that using this international body is a duty and a right ‘when the organs and powers of the Chilean State have failed to fulfill their obligation to investigate, judge and punish those responsible’ for such crimes.

The declaration denounces the murders, torture -including sexual torture-, eye trauma, mutilations and loss of sight, serious injuries, arbitrary detentions, committed by State agents against thousands of Chileans in the framework of a policy of massive, serious and systematic violations of human rights.

It also points out the government’s failure to comply with the recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and assures that the attacks on the civilian population by State agents, from October 2019 to April 2021, have persisted.

This, it refers, ‘through patterns of behavior that are far from international standards on the use of force and respect for human rights.’