Justice in the Kichwa Community

Justice for the Kichwa people involves community at its heart. Although there are different procedures from village to village in the Kichwa Community, there are five core practices or cornerstones in the administration of justice. The actual flow of events in the mechanism of justice may vary, but broadly, they cover these core practices.

The first step is Willachina, which translates to mean a notice or request. The affected person is invited to inform the leaders of the council on the event that transpired, and name the issue as clearly as is possible – be it a fight or theft.

Following this, there is an examination of the issue in full detail, called Tapuykuna. Here, several procedures are implemented, such as determining the scale and magnitude of the conflict, verifying the incident, determining guilt if any, and search the site of the event.

Once the issue is ascertained and the flow of events and causation are appropriately determined, there is a process of engagement between the accused and the plaintiff, called Chimbapurana. This takes place in two parts. First, the President of the Council establishes the assembly, which is apprised of the situation and the inferences drawn from the investigation. The community is then informed of who the accused is, and where, how, and when the conflict took place. Following this, the accusing party offers oral information on the facts that moved them to initiate these proceedings. The accused is welcomed to defend himself, and either accept or deny the accusations presented. If the accusations are accepted, the accused is welcome to seek pardon before the assembly, leading to a possible reduction or entire cancellation of punishment for the accused.  Here, lawyers do not have any place within the process. The entire conversation takes place between the parties, in the presence of community leaders, villagers, and family members.

The next stage is Killpichirina, or the determination of punishment. Unlike punitive measures in the adversarial systems of justice, the accused might be required to return robbed objects, pay damages, do community work, and in the case of graver offences, undergo a cold bath or a herbal whipping, and in some rare cases, even be expelled from the community. Punishments are adapted to suit the situation and tend to vary according to the needs of the parties involved. For instance, in a case where a man was killed in a fight, three people who were responsible were sentenced to economically take care of the wife and four children of the man they killed. The approach to punishment is underpinned by the goal of rehabilitation over punitive and retributive consequences. As a result, community work is a frequent sentence.

This is followed by Paktachina, where the punishment is enforced by the community elders, family members, godparents, and the president of the council.  

References:

Tibán, L. and ILaquiche, R. (2004). Manual de Administración de Justicia Indígena en el

Ecuador (Quito: Nina Comunicaciones).

Engström, A. K. (2009). Indigenous Justice From a Human Rights Perspective-A field study of Kichwas in the Andean region of Ecuador.