Over a thousand years in prison for 18 members of the Resistencia Mapuche Lafkenche for attack on Molino Grollmus
A Chilean court has sentenced 18 members of the radical Mapuche group RML for an armed attack and fire at the historic Molino Grollmus in 2022. The sentences total over 1,000 years in prison.
Cañete court sentences 18 members of the Resistencia Mapuche Lafkenche for attack on the century-old Molino Grollmus
Chilean justice imposed sentences totalling over a thousand years in prison on Monday to 18 members of the radical group Resistencia Mapuche Lafkenche (RML), according to clarin.com. The convicted individuals participated in the armed attack in August 2022 against the Molino Grollmus, a century-old industrial complex located in the commune of Contulmo, in the Biobío region, more than 600 kilometres from Santiago.
The Cañete Oral Criminal Trial Court found them guilty of arson, robbery with violence, attempted qualified homicide, and illegal ammunition possession. The group comprises 15 adults and three adolescents; the latter must serve 10 years and one day of provisional detention. Among the adults, sentences range from a minimum of 818 days to 60 years in prison.
The ringleaders and main leaders are Mapuche community members, although not all of the convicted individuals have indigenous ancestry. Five of them received sentences exceeding 80 years in prison. The Prosecution and the court identified them as active members of a criminal organisation operating in Arauco province.
Chilean Security Minister Martín Arrau valued the sentences through his X account: "They attacked to sow terror. Today, their sentences total over 1,000 years in prison." Arrau added that the ministry acted as a private prosecutor "because we have always maintained that this was not a private conflict. It was an attack against a family, against an entire community and against Chileans' right to live without fear."
The attack took place in August 2022, during the presidency of Gabriel Boric, and was the only incident classified as "terrorist" by the centre-left president. It occurred within the framework of the territorial, political and social conflict facing the Chilean state, forestry companies and the Mapuche people in the southern macro-zone, which encompasses the Biobío, La Araucanía, Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions.
Close to twenty armed men broke into the mill—built in 1915 as part of German colonisation—firing weapons and setting fire to the facilities. Carlos Grollmus Thiele, 79 years old at the time of the attack, suffered the amputation of one leg as a consequence of the wounds inflicted upon him.
The fire completely destroyed the industrial and hydraulic complex, which operated primarily as a wheat mill and served multiple functions for the local economy of Contulmo thanks to its pioneering use of hydraulic power. The infrastructure was also a recognised tourist destination: it housed a museum on the history of the German family and had been declared an Architectural Heritage Legacy by the National Monuments Council.
Source: Google News CL — Crime