Court of Appeals rejects annulment of Luis Araya Galaz trial

SANTIAGO.- The first court of the Santiago Court of Appeals has decided to reject the appeal presented by the defense lawyers representing Luis Araya Galaz, requesting the reversal of a life sentence in prison issued by the third oral criminal court of Santiago for the robbery and murder of banking executive María Soledad Lapostol on December 21st of 2007.

This latest sentence was confirmed by the highest court of the capital city, where magistrates Raúl Rocha, Jéssica González and interim attorney Ángel Cruchaga decided that the sentencing judges had "correctly applied the law".

The Court rejected both the nullification of the life sentence for murder, as well as the sentence of 541 days Araya Galaz received for fraudulent use of Lapostol's bank credit card.

Although the appeal presented by Araya Galaz's defense team was rejected, the judges issued a harsh reproach against the Public Ministry for the case, indicating in their ruling, that the case shows signs of "a weak investigation".