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.
Court of Valparaíso is celebrating the #HeritageDay2023 🏛 opens its doors to the community and invites the sham hearing against Darth Vader at noon in the First Courtroom.
📆 Sunday 28 May.
🕒 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
📍 Court of Valparaiso. pic.twitter.com/Zt1pkLLDAn– Chilean judiciary (@PJudicialChile) May 25, 2023
“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.
Chile | A curious trial against the villain of the “Star Wars” saga, Darth Vader, took place in the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso, Chile, as part of an educational exercise for Heritage Day pic.twitter.com/H2L27WiXBQ
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) May 30, 2023
“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.”
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.
My life as a journalist took on new meaning the night the Valparaíso Court of Appeals wrote to me to make it clear that Darth Vader had not been released. pic.twitter.com/lDhiXiphXh
— Christian Leal (@Sniper) May 29, 2023
Source: Eluniverso

Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.