Chile: Victor Montoya arrested and accused of bombing the police precinct in Las Vizcachas

from publicacionrefractario, transl waronsociety:

During the early hours of Saturday February 9, 2013, an explosive device went off in a wall of the police barracks in Las Vizcachas. The explosion happened between an irrigation canal with vegetation, and the area where the members of the repressive forces who are “single” sleep.

The explosive had been made of a 2 kilo fire extinguisher full of black powder activated by an electrical mechanism fed by a 9 volt battery.

The expansive wave damaged a wall and caused auditory damages and wounds to the second corporal Sebastián Rosales, who was transferred to the police hospital by helicopter.

After the explosion a police cordon was set up in the area without any results.

Two citizens, now converted into secret witnesses, said that they saw two masked persons getting into a grey Hyundai truck after the explosion, both decided to follow them but they quickly were left behind in the para-police persecution. The subjects managed to note the truck’s license plate to then hand over to the police.

A “reserved” (??) report from the police–that was hardly reserved since it was given to the press–said the statement from the witness: “I decided to follow them, but they were going at a high speed,” it was the copilot who had noted the plate and then handed it to the police.

The police reviewed the vehicle’s patent and turned to mounting an operation with personnel from OS-9 at the house in Puente Alto. On arrival the truck is driven by Víctor Hugo Montoya (22 years), son of the owner; Victor is arrested.

During Saturday morning Victor is passed to arrest control in the Puente Alto Courts. Exercising the nefarious anti-terrorist law, the prosecution asks for a period of 5 days without communication before pressing charges, and finally the court gives them 3 days before any knowledge of what crime they will charge him under and why.

During these days, the police raids Victor’s house, finding an ETA DVD, the feared book The Anarchist Moral and a series of documents in support of the prisoners of the bombs case.

Victor did not collaborate with the police at any time; it came out from statements by the father that he is vegan and had a criminal background for participating in street riots, while in the press they pointed to some connection to occupations, apparently seeking to extend the repression. (Although it’s worth saying that we always loon on the policial-journalistic pen with doubt.)

On February 12, 2013, Victor was charged by the Southern Prosecutor (with exclusive dedication to these kinds of crimes) for the placement of explosive device under the anti-terrorist law. At the hearing, friends and family members came to accompany Victor. The persecutor Raúl Guzmán pointed to and fantasized about the immediate connection with four other attacks:

Logistical Division of the Army (November 28, 2011)

Warranty Court of Puente Alto (July 4, 2012)

La Florida Local Prosecutor (November 29, 2011)

BCI Bank on Beauchef street (March 1, 2012)

As is customary, none of these cases were officially attributed to him, instead the prosecution sought to enmesh the legal process and speak of supposed evident similarities but without directly accusing him. The press said that the police found the use of 9 volt batteries in all these attacks an unequivocal similarity.

The court gave 80 days for the investigation and marked the actions as terrorist, since by the judge Graciela Muñoz’s criteria “many bombs have been placed in trash cans, in ATMs, in different places, but not in a police station” giving it the diffuse character of “terrorist.” In addition to fixing as key elements the anarchist documents found in his residence.

For his part the public defender Rodrigo Román, who carried Victor’s defense, said that “there is a weak accusation and there isn’t evidence against him.”

Victor presently remains in the Puente Alto Prison, we have no knowledge of the regimen he is submitted to and his personal situation.

We want to clarify that we do not know about Victor’s participation or non-participation in the explosive attack; it is possible to reveal a revolutionary stance with the background filtered through the press in addition to his position and posture in not collaborating with the police.

Even so, without knowing Victor’s political position or how he defines and/or defined himself, we are in solidarity with him. We are not judges nor do we base our scale of values on the penal code, we are revolutionaries and solidarity is what matters to us.

The press is trying to hide and conceal the media show that is commonly used in these cases, preferring to invisibilize the prison and the pathological use of the anti-terrorist law. This situation creates a situation where it is difficult for those of us who don’t know Victor to know about his legal, personal, or carceral situation.

We encourage Victor’s friends, family and compañeros to report about the situation in which he is presently, and not to bury the repression in forgetting and silence.

Solidarity with revolutionary prisoners!

The only terrorist is the State!

End to the anti-terrorist law!

Victor Montoya to the street!