Chilean justice has finally reduced the sentence against Darth Vader, dark cult villain of the saga "Star Wars", who appeared before the Valparaiso Court of Appeal on Sunday in a mock trial organized on the occasion of Heritage Day from the country.
120 kilometers west of the Chilean capital Santiago, the Valparaiso Court of Appeal has issued its decision against Mr. Vader after an educational trial, aimed at bringing justice closer to Chilean citizens on the Day heritage celebrated this weekend in the country.
Faithful to the scenario of the saga and its episode V: The Empire strikes back, Darth Vader was thus condemned for having cut off the hand of his son, Luke Skywalker. "What is condemned is the mutilation, not what Mr. Vader did before," the court ruled.
For this reason and "taking into account the penalties provided for by the space criminal code (...), he will be sentenced to a just sentence". Mr. Vader will have to "remain frozen for 30 years in carbonite" and will be prohibited "from approaching the victim, Luke, at a distance of at least three planets for 30 years".
Also, Mr. Vader was forever banned from the "dark use of force" and his lightsaber.
“I ask neither more nor less than justice,” his lawyer, Juan Carlos Manriquez, told the court. "He is a human being with rights (...) He is almost a machine, but also a man. A father".
The objective of this life-size reconstituted trial was to "bring justice, so little understood, closer to citizens", explained Maria del Rosario Lavin, president of the Valparaiso Court of Appeal. "Because people know the trials and the courts well, but very little about the role" of a court of appeal, she believes.
“Of course I have dealt with terribly bad criminals during my career”, insists the magistrate, who underlines that the presence of someone like Darth Vader is not “a novelty”.
As part of Heritage Day, institutions, museums and multiple buildings, including the presidential palace of La Moneda in Santiago, opened their doors free of charge to the public, all over Chile.
05/29/2023 03:19:01 - Valparaiso (Chili) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
