The Chilean Supreme Court decided to release Mapuche leader Facundo Jones Huala last Friday. Jones Huala’s nine-year prison sentence ended on June 14, however he continued to be detained past this date, which the court has ruled “illegal imprisonment.”
While Jones Huala has been released from prison, for the time being he will remain hospitalized in Chile. His health is currently in delicate condition due to a 47-day hunger strike that he recently ended.
According to the ruling, his detention went on longer than it should have and there was no legal justification for keeping him in prison. “Doing so not only violates international treaties, but is also illegal,” the ruling declared.
“Taking into account that the inmate re-entered prison to serve the remainder of his sentence on January 4, 2024, the sentence was completed on June 14, 2024,” the ruling stated, which came as a response to judicial protection filed by his defense.
The Supreme Court admitted that there had been “discrepancies” regarding the amount of time the judiciary had calculated that Jones Huala would have to serve in Chile. On Friday his Argentinian lawyer, Gustavo Franquet, told Bariloche radio station Radio Seis that a “miscalculation,” reportedly from the Chilean military police, indicated he would have had to stay behind bars until June 2025.
After he is discharged from the hospital, Jones Huala will be able to return to Argentina. If he decides to stay in Chile after his release, Jones Huala would have to wait for permission from the Chilean judiciary in order to do so.
According to Franquet, Jones Huala is still very weak as a result of his hunger strike, but will be released from the hospital “as soon as he gets well.”
In 2018, a criminal court in the Chilean city of Valdivia convicted Jones Huala of arson for an attack on a farm in 2013, as well as illegal possession of a weapon. While he served most of his sentence, in February 2022 he escaped Chile while under house arrest. He was a fugitive for almost a year before being arrested on January 30, 2023 in the Argentine town of El Bolsón in the Río Negro province.
In February 2023, the Chilean judiciary ruled that Jones Huala could serve the last year and four months of his sentence in Chile, and Argentina accepted the decision. Jones Huala was in an Argentine prison at this time, where he spent the remainder of the year, until he was finally extradited to Chile on January 4. He was sent to Temuco Prison, where he served his remaining six months of time.
At the end of June, Jones Huala began a hunger strike — refusing to eat solid foods in protest of his imprisonment. He was hospitalized on July 17, however he continued the hunger strike, which lasted a total of 47 days.
Last week, a few days after learning that his brother Fausto Jones Huala was found dead on August 1, Jones Huala changed his protest and began to eat solid food. This time he refused to drink liquids, which he was previously consuming. According to his lawyer, he didn’t want to make his family suffer over his delicate health conditions, after the recent deaths of his brother and his grandmother, who passed away in June.
The activist’s mother, María Isabel Huala, said in a video posted on her social media accounts that Fausto had decided to “take his own life,” and blamed the Argentine and Chilean authorities for his decision. She attributed it to the “persecution” her family has suffered during recent years.