Grollmus Case: Victims Report Campaign to Pressure Justice System and Protected Witnesses

Amid the processing of an injunction filed before the Supreme Court by the defense of two of the 21 accused of participating, on August 29, 2022, in the massive armed attack and subsequent arson against facilities of the Grollmus family in Contulmo, and amid demonstrations demanding their release and labeling them "Mapuche political prisoners," the victims of the incident report a campaign to pressure the Judiciary and the protected witnesses who will testify in the oral trial.

Although the events occurred in the province of Arauco, south of the Biobío Region, and will be heard in the Oral Court of Cañete, on Monday afternoon there were protests—with burning barricades and clashes between hooded individuals and police officers near the Universidad de la Frontera in Temuco, capital of La Araucanía.

Along with demanding the release of those allegedly linked, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office investigation, to the criminal group Resistencia Mapuche Lafkenche (RML), banners were also raised calling for an end to the state of exception, which on May 17 will mark four years of uninterrupted application in four provinces and 53 communes of the southern macrozone.

Similarly, through digital platforms linked to radicalized Mapuche activism, including Radio Kurruf, graffiti was spread on walls in the cities of Santiago, Concepción, and Buenos Aires (Argentina) with proclamations supporting those in pretrial detention as co-perpetrators of the attack on the Grollmus family.

"Intent to Intimidate"

Christian Grollmus, a survivor of the arson attack and Local Police Judge, warns that "we are facing an orchestrated campaign directed against us as victims, with the intent to intimidate." He emphasizes that "these people cannot be given the status of political prisoners, because they belong to a criminal group that, the day after the shooting where four of us were at risk of death, claimed responsibility for the attack through social media, which was never denied."

Grollmus insists that "the 21 detainees are identified as perpetrators, within a group close to thirty participants, where there are still people to be arrested who are under arrest warrants" and maintains that the current scenario of the case affecting his family "is the typical strategy of these groups, who seek to victimize themselves and influence public opinion and the courts so that justice is intimidated."

Regarding how this type of pressure could affect those who will testify as protected witnesses in the case, Christian Grollmus states that "we hope it has no effect, although clearly these are their strategies to influence."

In light of experience, he adds, "in previous trials for actions as dramatic and cruel as those that affected us, all these pressures have had no effect, and we hope that will be the case in our case and in others that may come."

Cañete Court Orders Consolidation of Cases

Yesterday, the Oral Criminal Court of Cañete ordered the consolidation of the two cases in which the Biobío Public Prosecutor's Office investigated the 21 detainees to date as alleged perpetrators of the attack on the Grollmus family.

In the first case, whose trial is scheduled for June 23, the participation of two individuals who were minors at the time of the attack was investigated. In the other—whose trial preparation ended in April and was yesterday scheduled for the same June 23—the investigations focused on 18 adults and a third minor who also allegedly were part of the group. According to the prosecutor's office, it is a criminal organization that coordinated the attack, distributed tasks, and planned the action over a year.

In its argument, the court stated that "from the perspective of the defendants' guarantees, conducting a single trial will allow the hearing to be set within the shortest possible timeframe, which is the hearing already set for June 23."

Source:El Mercurio