No one escapes the radar of justice and the turn came to Darth Vader himself, the famous villain of the “Star Wars” saga.

Darth Vader was tried in Valparaíso, Chile, and AFP news agency provided details of the hearing.

He explained that on Sunday, May 28, 2023, it was decided to reduce “the sentence against him for which he was sentenced to eternal freezing”.

What was this trial against Darth Vader about?

120 kilometers from Santiago is Valparaíso, where this “unusual trial” took place, which had an “educational character”.

The idea was to bring citizens closer to the work of the courts, in the context of Heritage Day, which was held this weekend.

“What we wanted to do is bring justice, so little understood, closer to the public. So that they can see what is done in an appeals court, because people know a lot about processes and courts, but not about the function that is performed here,” explains the president of the appeals court, María del Rosario Lavín.

And boy did they. They attracted attention and dressed in his rigorous black suit and his characteristic cape, Darth Vader appeared before the Court of Valparaíso at noon.

“I’m just asking for justice,” the defense attorney said

Like all defendants, Vader had a lawyer. The responsibility fell on the shoulders of Juan Carlos Manríquez, who said for his client: “I only ask for nothing more and nothing less than justice.”

Manríquez found himself fully engaged in his role as a legal professional.

(Father) He is a human being with rights, if only in part. (…) He is almost a machine, but he is also a human being. He’s a father.

Juan Carlos Manríquez, lawyer

What was decided in court

In the “trial” of Darth Vader for cutting off his son Luke Skywalker’s hand (something that appears in the episode “The Empire Strikes Back”), it was determined that “what is being sentenced is mutilation (…) and not what Mr. Vader did before.

For this reason, the court determined: “Having regard to the penalties laid down in the spatial penal code (…), he shall be sentenced to the just punishment of remaining frozen in carbonite for 30 years, to being banned from approaching the victim, Luke, for 30 years, on at least three planets away.

In addition, the AFP reported, Vader was “completely and continuously disabled due to the ‘dark use of the force’ and the lightsaber.”

It’s not every day that a Darth Vader stands up for justice.
Photo: AFP

Judge María del Rosario Lavín, accustomed to dealing with shady characters, invariably stated: “In my judicial career I’ve had terribly bad criminals, so it’s not new.”

However, the presence of this defendant caused a stir in the media… It’s not every day that a Darth Vader stands up for justice. The character was not released, it was reported to the media that he disagreed with the sentence.