The facts of the petition refer to charging and sentencing a group of the indigenous Mupuche leaders for terrorist crimes between 2001 and 2002. The criminal proceedings involved irregularities that violated basic due process guarantees, and the Anti-terrorism Law was applied in a way that discriminated against them as indigenous Mapuche.

This decision is the Inter-American Court’s first on members of the Mapuche people. The Court analyzed the principle of legality in light of the “terrorism” charge applied to the indigenous leaders, thereby establishing the violation of the presumption of innocence and the state obligation to define crimes precisely and clearly.

Moreover, the Inter-American Court’s analysis established that the decision that sentenced the victims discriminated against the Mapuche people, violating the principles of equality and non-discrimination. It analyzed different due process guarantees and referred to the use of witnesses with identities reserved in these cases and the lack of motivation in the adoption and keeping of pre-trial detention, as well as the lack of consideration for unique characteristics of indigenous communities when ordering measures that deprive their liberty.