Extracts from: Chile
Invokes Chilling Anti-Terrorist Law Against Indigenous Mapuche, published by
Indian Country.
Chile’s controversial anti-terror law dates back to
the 1973-1990 reign of dictator Augusto Pinochet. The draconian anti-terror law
allows for suspects to be detained for indefinite periods of time without
charge and allows the use of testimony from anonymous witnesses in trials,
Forbes Online said. Some aspects of the Pinochet-era legislation parallel the
National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law by
President Obama on New Year’s Eve. The NDAA allows for the indefinite detention
without charge or trial of people suspected of terrorism, including U.S.
citizens detained on U.S. soil.
Chile’s anti-terrorism law was invoked last year
against four Mapuche men—activists involved in the struggle for their land
rights who were sentenced to 20 and 25 years in prison in what appeared to be
trumped up charges under the anti-terrorism legislation. “What is happening in
Chile isn’t justice; it’s a pantomime, because under the anti-terrorism law,
there is absolutely no way justice can be done,” said José Venturelli,
spokesman for the European Secretariat of the Ethics Commission against
Torture. The Mapuche are Chile’s largest indigenous group, numbering nearly one
million among Chile’s population of more than 16 million. Their struggle for
their land rights has frequently pitted them against not only forestry
companies but also large landholders and other private interests.
Under Chile’s anti-terrorist law, prosecutors may
keep their evidence secret, anonymous witnesses can testify for the
prosecution, prosecutors may apply for powers to tap telephones and intercept
correspondence, e-mails and other communications, suspects can be held for up
to 10 days before formal charges are brought, and detainees often face long
periods of pre-trial detention and disproportionately long sentences.
Today
was one of those days I had to look at a calendar and check the date, yes it is
2012. (Unless
of course you’re Jewish and it’s 5772, Muslim 1433 or Mayan, very worried.) And not the middle ages and the Spanish
Inquisition, not seventeenth century America and the Salem witch trials and not
the 1930’s and Nazi Germany.
Franz
Kafka wrote ‘The Trial’ in 1915 & based it upon anti-Semitic laws then in
force in the Austro-Hungarian Empire:
The central character, Joseph K. is arrested one
morning, apparently victim of a slander. The two policemen that arrest him
refuse to give any explanation. He is
tried in a court that prevents any access to its Judges, and that does not
recognize his legal right to a defence. The court proceedings remain secret and
the bill of indictment is not accessible to the accused, nor to his lawyers,
and even less to the public in general. The accused is therefore unable to
defend himself, since he doesn’t know of what he is being accused. After this
entirely non-transparent proceeding, the Court orders the execution of the unfortunate
Joseph K.
