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Original article: Por primera vez en la historia mundial, un tribunal condenó a un juez y a un general por espiar a un periodista

Chilean authorities sentenced former Copiapó Appeals Court President Juan Poblete and retired General Shafik Nazal to five years in prison and permanent loss of political rights on June 30, after they orchestrated an illegal spying operation against journalist Mauricio Weibel Barahona during his investigations into widespread military corruption tied to armament procurement in Chile.

Weibel described the unprecedented ruling as a landmark in global judicial history, emphasizing its significance for freedom of expression, stating it sends a clear message that there can be no impunity for those who attack journalists, especially those investigating corruption and public interest.

This resolution was achieved during a plea bargain at the Seventh Guarantee Court in Santiago, where the defendants acknowledged their guilt following over two years of pre-trial detention since the investigations began in 2020.

Mauricio Weibel’s attorneys, Karinna Fernández and Cristián Cruz, commended the ruling as well as the international legislation and legal precedents regarding such matters.

Attorney Fernández noted that spying on a journalist is an attack on the right of all individuals to access truthful and timely public interest information. «When a journalist’s phone is tapped, it undermines democracy itself,» she emphasized.

The defense attorney also highlighted the severe human rights violations involved in these crimes, pointing out that the convicted state agents were expected to protect these rights.

In this context, attorney Cristián Cruz stated that «this ruling reaffirms the positions expressed multiple times by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, which has stressed that media workers investigating corruption or misconduct should not be targets of judicial harassment or other forms of retaliation for their public interest work.»

Meanwhile, in an amicus curiae presented to the court, Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression further pointed out that «this case arises within a troubling regional and international context for freedom of expression,» where practices such as the unlawful use of surveillance technologies to monitor journalists or intercept their communications are observed.

«This trend, the legal report elaborated, has been recognized by international human rights protection bodies, which have warned about the arbitrary and illegal use of mechanisms like communication interception or data collection—practices that constitute severe violations of privacy rights and freedom of expression.» Read the full amicus curiae here.

The Facts

The telephone spying against investigative journalist Mauricio Weibel occurred in 2017 while he was probing extensive corruption within the Chilean Armed Forces, as confirmed by the prosecutor’s investigation and later acknowledged by the defendants in their confessions.

To carry out this illegal communication interception, Judge Poblete and General Nazal issued a fraudulent wiretap order, which included Weibel’s phone number but falsely named an undocumented Bolivian immigrant, claiming she was a foreign agent.

This illegal operation was uncovered two years later when an intelligence officer anonymously revealed it to a newspaper. Once the facts became known, three Defense Ministers defended this assault on press freedom before Congress: Alberto Espina, Baldo Prokurica, and Mario Desbordes.

«In these circumstances, the ruling issued by the Chilean judiciary is of utmost importance, as it clarifies that journalism must be defended and that there can be no impunity for those who attack it, not even for a judge or a general,» said Rocío Alorda, president of the Chilean Journalists’ Association.

Alorda added that Mauricio Weibel’s case is a paradigmatic example that highlights the structural risks faced by investigative journalism in Latin America, demanding to be analyzed through the international human rights standards applicable to freedom of expression and the protection of private life from state interference.

Weibel expressed his gratitude for the support provided throughout the legal investigation by organizations like Media Defence, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression, and the Chilean Journalists’ Association, among others.

La entrada Historic Ruling: Judge and General Convicted for Espionage Against Investigative Journalist se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.