DAY FORTY-EIGHT: Trial Against David Castillo
/Last update June 26 at 8:00 am
Main Points of the Day
Today, Shaun Vodde, the defense’s expert witness testified that his appearance and testimony in the trial had been coordinated with Daniel Atala. During Vodde’s presentation, an email between Vodde and Atala remained unintentionally on the projected computer screen for all to see (posted below). In response, the Cáceres family attorneys objected to Atala’s interference in the proceedings, particularly as an individual under investigation for the murder. The attorneys accuse Daniel Atala of obstructing justice and argue that Atala’s actions show, once again, the networks of power used by the Atalas and Castillo to guarantee impunity. They asked the court to subpoena the communications between the expert and Castillo and call for an investigation. The court denied their requests.
Voice messages and video files recorded by Berta Cáceres (see below) and extracted from her cell phone were played in court, almost as if Berta herself, was testifying in the trial. The recordings denounced DESA and the mayor of San Francisco de Ojüera’s (SFO) harassment of COPINH, the presence of military and police in Rio Blanco despite denials from the Ministry of Security and the violence and armed men used to attack members of COPINH in February 2016 in Berta’s last major action in SFO to stop the construction of the Agua Zarca dam.
All evidence for the trial has now been presented and heard by the court. Conclusions will begin on Monday at 10 am. An end to the almost 50 day trial is in sight.
Photo published by COPINH. Title reads “Why did Danei Atala communicate with the expert of Castillo’s defense team?
VIDEOS FROM TODAY
The video of the moment in court when the email appears on the screen: https://fb.watch/6mf_1GonGC/
The video extracted from Berta Cáceres’s phone and filmed by Berta documenting the destruction caused by the dam and the presence of police and military in the area: https://fb.watch/6mgqJVE7FG/
AUDIO
Berta Cáceres denouncing attacks in San Francisco de Ojüera (SFO) in February 2016 just days before her murder. Berta names DESA and Raul Pineda (the mayor of SFO) as responsible for the attacks and denounces misogynist and racist statements made against COPINH members (see audio directly below)
CHAT MESSAGES
The messages describe DESA’s coordinated attacks against COPINH’s community radio. One of the defense’s witnesses and former DESA employee, Ramon Rivera (who began testifying on Day 39) is named in the messages.
Highlighted parts translated from left to right:
[From Sergio Rodriguez] to various phone numbers]: “For this, I’m going to ask Ramón Rivera to use a portable radio he has to look for the radio frequency that they use to try and block their signal unless there are other comments or other suggestions”
Second picture: “They don’t have a CONATEL frequency, its a community radio they installed without authorization and they use a frequency that isn’t being used with a radio some 10-15 kilometers away”
[NOTE: COPINH, OFRANEH, and other indigenous community groups have always maintained that their community radios do not need permission from the state authority, the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) to operate because they are granted the right as indigenous peoples to their own means of communication under ILO 169.]
More Details
Cáceres Family Lawyers Continue Questioning Expert Vodde
Q: What other actions did you carry out to compliment the extraction, other than the visit you referred to in your testimony? A: There were additional requests made leading up to the trial
Q: This information you mentioned, who requested it? A: We receive our requests from the legal lawyer named Daniel Atala and coordinated through him.
Q: Did you speak with Daniel Atala’s lawyer or with Daniel Atala? A: The man’s name is Daniel Atala (spells it)
Q: What indications did Daniel Atala give you? A: He just asked to provide information that was outlined in the report declaration
Q: Why did you coordinate with Daniel Atala if he’s not part of the legal process? A: Daniel is the person that we coordinated through - I don’t know why he was used. I do expect it has something to do with being able to speak English.
Q: When was your last communication with Daniel Atala? A: They have been as recent as this morning to coordinate times for the trial.
[The lawyers stop and object to this (see below). After the court’s resolution, they continue their line of questioning]
Q: Can you read this chat (list the location of the chart in the report)? A: [The secretary proceeds to read it]. Summary of the chat: Sergio Rodriguez reporting to a Whatsapp group about a meeting in La Tejera (Rio Blanco).
Q: Go to extraction #18, can you play the audio file? A: [Expert plays audio file of Berta outlining the repression against COPINH members in SFO in February 2016 (listen to the audio file above)]
Q: To who was the audio file sent? A: It was sent to Alba Italiana
Q: We would like to hear four audio files and video (they specify where they are). A: [The expert plays the files. See these above]
Cáceres Family Lawyers Object to Expert’s Communication With Daniel Atala
The attorneys object to Daniel Atala having communication with expert Vodde. They argue that Atala refused to declare or give testimony but he has no problem sharing the court’s private zoom link - which he shouldn’t have access to - with the expert. They argue that Atala has contaminated the expert witness testimony.
The attorneys for the Cáceres family ask the court to act. They asked the court to ask expert Shaun Vodde to send all communications with Daniel Atala from the moment Vodde was sworn in as a court witness. They also request that the Attorney General’s office investigate Danial Atala for obstruction of justice, arguing that Waxenecker’s analysis of power networks outlines exactly these types of issues (obstruction, using influence, etc).
Resolution of the court: The court denies these requests indicating that the lawyers can question the credibility of the expert in their closing remarks. The court does not consider that obstruction of justice has occurred.
Prosecution’s Technical Consultant Gives His Conclusions and Expert Responses
As per court procedure, the technical consultant brought in to assist the prosecution in questioning the data extraction expert Vodde, was able to give his conclusions about Vodde’s analysis. They include:
According to best practices, extraction attempts on the IPhone X should have been done various times, not just one.
Regarding the factory reset status of Castillo’s IPhone, updates don’t just promote factory resets - they improve applications, it doesn’t erase information. [Expert responds that the IPhone had already been wiped clean so no information could be extracted]
It’s a serious mistake to show up to testify in a trial without the native files extracted from the device. The archives are part of the extraction which is not just a report.
It’s a grave error to put the watermark of the company on an extraction document that blocks the information in the extraction report. The digital files referred to by the thumbnails cannot be linked to and do not include the root file.
Gloves should have been used when handling the phones during the extraction.
Castillo’s Defense Team Attempts to Present New Evidence Just As Proceedings Wrap Up
The defense attempts to present documents that allegedly show that Castillo is not involved with PRODERSA (or PEMSA, it’s unclear) or Digicom. They also propose a witness. Court rejects the requests.