2019 Goldman Environmental Prize winner to walk out a free man

Lonko Alberto Curamíl during court hearings in Temuco, Chile               photo: Orin Langelle/GJEP
Temuco, Chile – On 13 December the Court of Temuco acquitted Lonko Alberto Curamíl and Werken Álvaro Millalén of all charges, allowing the Goldman Environmental Prize winner to walk out a free man.
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His daughter Belén Curamil said, “I am very happy because we knew they were innocent, both the lonko Alberto Curamil and the werken Álvaro Millalén. If they were in prison for so long, it is because they raised their voices and fought for our territory, for the freedom of our Mapu, the freedom of our rivers and the freedom of the people and the Mapuche people.”  Belén Curamil accepted the Goldman Prize on behalf of her father, because he was imprisoned awaiting trial.