The Court of Appeals of Antofagasta rejected on Monday a request to lift the immunity of deputy Sebastián Videla, filed by former official Eduardo König over alleged slander. The case stems from Videla's animal cruelty complaint against König. Videla, re-elected on Sunday in District 3, defended his actions as a public duty.
The immunity lift request against independent pro PL deputy Sebastián Videla was filed by Eduardo König, former undersecretary of National Assets, who accused him of slander. The conflict originates from a complaint Videla filed with the Antofagasta Prosecutor's Office, alleging that König supplied ground glass in the food of a community dog named Negrito, in the Coviefi sector of the city. Videla also posted criticisms on social media without directly naming König, prompting the legal action.
Before the ruling, Videla, who won re-election on Sunday with 23.31% of the votes in District 3, expressed confidence outside the court: “very calm, because I met with the neighbors at the time and reported it to the Prosecutor's Office. Moreover, I just spoke with the PDI and this case is being investigated. Therefore, we are confident and calm that I did my job, and I hope that justice understands it that way”. He added: “We believe we have done the job as it should be, that animal abuse must be reported and obviously investigated. Justice will say if there were more or fewer precedents, what the details were, but I never even published the person's name and I followed the proper procedures”.
The full bench of the Court of Appeals, composed of ministers Dinko Franulic Cetinic, Virginia Soublette Miranda, Jasna Pavlich Núñez, Juan Opazo Lagos, and Jaime Rojas Mundaca, unanimously rejected the request. In the ruling, it was deemed that Videla's social media posts are of public interest and do not constitute direct imputations against König, lacking intent to slander. The document states: “Taking into consideration that according to the standard governing the admissibility of the immunity lift request, considering that it requires an assessment of the eventual probability of success in criminal prosecution to avoid arbitrary and unjust imputations that could disrupt the democratic system and noting the absence of direct imputations against Mr. Eduardo König Carrera in the social media posts, considering that the facts exposed in those media are of public interest and unable to discern from their content an intent to injure the applicant by belittling, disparaging, or discrediting him directly or obliquely, since the expressions amount to the disclosure of information on facts of citizen connotation and interest, it has been unanimously agreed by this Full Court to reject the immunity lift request filed by attorney Eduardo König Rojas on behalf of Mr. Eduardo König Carrera against the honorable deputy of the Republic Mr. Sebastián Videla Castillo”.
The hearing to communicate the sentence is scheduled for Friday, November 28 at 9:00 a.m. This case highlights tensions between parliamentary duties and legal protections in animal cruelty reports.