While the Gollano brothers are being targeted for imprisonment in Mendoza under the guise of recidivism for fighting for water and against mining, the Criminal Chamber of Trelew, composed of judges César Zaratiegui, Alejandro De Franco, and Adrian Barrios, has confirmed the sentences against protesters who were criminalized for damages in December 2021, after the Legislature approved large-scale mining in Chubut.
On Friday afternoon, two of the young convicted individuals were detained to serve prison sentences. The other convicted neighbors received suspended sentences of less than 3 years. The arrests took place amid a climate of harassment against other residents who are part of the support network for those being persecuted for the December 2021 events. Cars were following one of the young men as he headed to the police station, while in the other case, the witness was someone who got out of a police investigation vehicle.
The judicial process, which targeted individuals who protested in December 2021, has been described as infamous, lacking evidence, and initiated at the request of governments pressured by mining companies. On behalf of mobilized residents defending water, an urgent call is made to all sectors to express solidarity and demand the Chubut Justice of the Peace immediately annul this infamous, evidence-less sentence, issued at the behest of Ignacio Torres to promote uranium mining on the plateau.
Despite the complete lack of a social license and in violation of agreements such as ILO Convention 169 or the Escazú Agreement, governments are advancing with extractive projects that are repressive, criminalizing, and polluting, lethally threatening water, territories, and all life they sustain.
Just days before the fourth anniversary of the popular uprising known as Chubutazo, which succeeded in repealing the mining zoning after days of brutal repression.
