Costa Rican farmer handed 22 years for murder of Indigenous land defender
Source: The Guardian
Costa Rican farmer handed 22 years for murder of Indigenous land defender
Brörán leader Yehry Rivera, 45, was shot and killed by Juan Varela during conflict in Terraba community in February 2020
Nina Lakhani and agencies in San José
Wed 1 Feb 2023 22.38 GMT
Last modified on Thu 2 Feb 2023 01.32 GMT
A Costa Rican court has sentenced a man to 22 years behind bars for the murder of an Indigenous land rights defender in 2020, in a case which stoked decades-old tensions between native communities and farmers over disputed territory.
Yehry Rivera, a leader of the Brörán people, was shot from behind and killed by farmer Juan Varela during a land conflict in the Terraba community, 80 miles (130 km) south-east of the capital San Jose in Puntarenas province.
Rivera, 45, was murdered in February 2020 after being surrounded by a mob of armed non-Indigenous locals amid a spate of violence against Indigenous activists trying to reclaim their ancestral territory.
“I was the one who killed him,” Varela said to cheers and applause at a community meeting last August – comments that were recorded and used as evidence in the trial.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/01/costa-rica-indigenous-land-rights-defender-murder-sentence
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Juan Eduardo Varela (from behind) at the beginning of the trial against him for the death of Jehry Rivera. (Photo: Vinicio Chacón)Country
Trial against accused of murder of Jehry Rivera is extended one more day for the defense to conclude its conclusions
By Vinicio Chacon | vinicio.chacon@ucr.ac.cr
January 30, 2023
The Public Ministry and the representation of the Rivera family requested a sentence of 39 years and 30 days against Juan Eduardo Varela.
The trial against Juan Eduardo Varela, accused of the murder of the indigenous activist Jehry Rivera, will continue this Tuesday so that the defense can end with the presentation of its conclusions.
. . .
Specifically, the events occurred while Rivera was part of a group of activists from Bröran, territory of Térraba, who was precisely carrying out a recovery.
“It is presumed that, between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm, a group of approximately 40 people, still unidentified, began to circulate in cars and motorcycles where the victim was located. Apparently, they would have thrown a stone against Rivera, however, they did not manage to hit him.
According to the initial allegation of the Prosecutor's Office, Rivera was initially attacked with a machete that he managed to snatch away, but later he was held by several people and received two shots that, according to the forensic report, entered his body through the back of his back. and left arm.
For his part, Varela's defense has not denied that he shot Rivera, but his allegation is that it was the "legitimate defense" of his brother Juan Luis, whom, according to that version of events, the indigenous leader attacked.
https://semanariouniversidad.com/pais/juicio-contra-acusado-de-homicidio-de-jehry-rivera-se-extiende-un-dia-mas-para-que-la-defensa-termine-sus-conclusiones/
