“The one who must be having a very bad time is Kai Bothe,” commented a lawyer who preferred to keep his identity confidential, referring to the negative effects that a mention in the Hermosilla case could have on his reputation. Kai Ambos is a world authority on international law, specializing in human rights and having close ties to Chile. Bothe lived in the country during the implementation of the criminal procedure reform. “He lived in Pedro de Valdivia Norte,” this colleague recalled.
Kai Ambos appeared in the court news when, during the trial of the Hermosilla case, it was revealed that Daniel Sauer – founding partner of Factop and currently in preventive detention – was the one who paid for the legal report prepared by Ambos to defend former Interior Minister Andrés Chadwick, in a constitutional charge presented by the opposition in late 2019. Chadwick’s defense requested the work of both to support the thesis that there were “no systematic violations of human rights between October 17 and 28, 2019”.
Hermosilla declared to prosecutors that he had met Kai Ambos through current Supreme Court Minister Jean-Pierre Matus, who was not a member of the Supreme Court at the time and worked as a criminal lawyer in the case. The dispute is over who paid the two’s fees and where those funds originated. Hermosilla explained: “I made sure these payments were made and I asked Daniel Sauer, who has access to bank accounts abroad, to make the international transfer of the money.”
Both received fees of 30 thousand euros, but it is not clear where the money originated or why Luis Hermosilla made the transaction through Sawyer when it could have been done online from any local bank. Another issue that worries lawyers is whether there was an invoice and who paid the additional tax.
A stain on your reputation
An academic with a doctorate in Germany explained to El Mostrador the impact the case could have on the reputation of the two: “The simple fact that there are suspicions of receiving funds from illegal origins or being linked to money laundering is extremely problematic.” A German academic; This must be a real nightmare for both Kai and Cai. The academic recalled that one of the topics the two have investigated is the laundering of money from drug trafficking in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
José Luis Guzmán, an academic at Valparaiso University and one of the Chileans closest to Kai Both, who has also written books with him, preferred not to make statements about the case. He said, “As a jurist and out of respect for colleagues mentioned in the facts of public relevance, I prefer to refrain from commenting until there is a full judicial clarification of the facts.”
Another who knew both was Milton Juica, a former minister of the Supreme Court and a key figure in the investigation of human rights violations, who, without mentioning the case, highlighted the relevance of the German academic and recalled that on one occasion he had invited them to participate in a seminar at the Finis Terrae University. Both of them graciously accepted it and participated in perfect Spanish. The Degollados case, which was investigated by then-judge Milton Juica, has also been the subject of study by Kai Ambos.
Both have CVs full of academic distinctions and achievements. He was a judge in Germany between 2006 and 2017, and later served on the Special Court for Kosovo (Yugoslavia) at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the Netherlands. He obtained the highest academic degrees in law and political science at the University of Freiburg, studied at Oxford and completed a doctorate at the University of Munich under the supervision of Horst Schuler-Springorum, an eminent scholar in criminal law and criminology. Later, he worked at the prestigious Max Planck Institute, where 39 Nobel laureates have passed.
Kai Both was also a professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Freiburg, one of Germany’s most prestigious universities. In 2015, Ambos came out as a critic of the Armenian Genocide and in 2011 he gained international fame by calling the killing of Osama bin Laden “illegal and morally questionable”. His book “Internationales Strafrecht” (CH Beck, 2018, 742 pages) is now in its fifth edition and is considered a bestseller in international criminal law.
Over the past week, we have attempted to contact Kai Both by email, but have received no response. A Chilean academic close to Both tried to facilitate contact, but advised against insisting, given the seriousness of the allegations.
Sign up for the newsletter +Politics from MostradorJoin our community to stay informed with accurate news, detailed monitoring of public policies, and interviews with influential personalities.