MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's Supreme Court orders Jones Huala's release

Jones Huala was deemed to have served out his sentence by June 14

Chile's Supreme Court Friday ordered the immediate release of convicted Mapuche leader Facundo Jones Huala of Argentine origin because he had served out his sentence by June 14 and had therefore been “illegally deprived of his freedom.” The Mapuche Ancestral Resistance (RAM) activist had been convicted of arson and illegal possession of firearms in 2013.

The Bariloche-born Jones Huala was extradited twice from Argentina to Chile. First in mid-2018 after four years at large. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison for the 2013 burning of a house in Pisu Pisué and threatening a family with firearms, although the sentence was reduced to 6 because of the time spent at the Argentine federal prison in Esquel pending his extradition.

In January 2022, he was granted parole when the Temuco Court of Appeals appraised his ”good conduct“ as an inmate. But he was declared a ”fugitive“ for not showing up after Chile's Supreme Court revoked the benefit. He was on the run for about one year before being recaptured in Argentine territory and extradited back to Chile in January this year.

“Bearing in mind that the balance of the sentence that the defendant was to serve as established in the extradition sentences was 1 year, four months, and 17 days,” and considering that Jones Huala remained incarcerated in Argentina for 11 months and 5 days awaiting extradition, it was deemed that he was only to serve 162 days when he re-entered Chile's correctional system, the Supreme Court argued. Hence, “the sentence was served on June 14, 2024,” it concluded.

The rebel leader, who has repeatedly claimed he does not respect Argentine institutions but only those provided for by Mapuche tradition, will thus be able to return to his native land, it was explained.