The National Association of Professional Football (ANFP) of chilli announced the “immediate sports suspension” of the footballers arrested this Thursday for a gang rape committed on a young woman in September 2021 when they were part of the club’s youth team Copperloa.
The governing body of Chilean football expressed in a statement “its total rejection and condemnation of any act of violence as well as all types of behavior that constitute sexual abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination and ill-treatment” and conveyed its “full willingness to cooperate with the investigation”.
“As soon as the ANFP formally became aware of these serious events, it requested the Cobreloa Sports Club to activate the protocol established in Decree No. 22, on the prevention and punishment of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, discrimination and mistreatment of the country’s sports activities,” he explained in the statement. Furthermore, he added, “he ordered the club to act with the diligence and speed that this serious case deserves.”
The nine detainees, whose identities have not been made public, allegedly committed the crime when they were minors and played for the Calama club, located 1,500 kilometers from the capital. Two of them currently play for the club and were arrested while they were training and separated from the team until the facts are clarified.
As for the other seven detained, it is known that they are former youth players of the team, but it is not known if they are currently part of another club. The complaint is based on an event that occurred on September 21, 2021, when the victim, who was 18 years old at the time, attended as a guest a celebratory barbecue at the club’s training center, where he was allegedly attacked “in a pack. ” by football players.
The case was initially closed after the complainant quit, while the Cobreloa club issued a statement in April in which it assured that “it was not possible to prove that abuse or gang rape was committed.”
The authorities ask for respect for the victim
The Chilean Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, assessed the arrests on her X account and said that they are “related to the strengthening of confidence in the institutions and to the promotion of a process that must continue until it is achieved the justice.” Meanwhile, the Minister of Women, Antonia Orellana, sent a message “to public opinion and especially to the sports environment to respect the judicial process and the victim,” who reported that she was represented by a private lawyer.
“It seems good news to us that after three years of complaints, this case is progressing and we believe that the parliamentary investigative commission really has a role in it,” he added in his statement to Chilean media.
A group of Chilean congressmen from different banks led by representatives Marisela Santibáñez and Andrés Giordano, formed a special commission to investigate this and other cases of abuse reported in sports field due to possible violations of the Law Against Sexual Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination. and Abuse of national sporting activities.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
