On April 29, 2011, Special Judge Alejandro Solís Muñoz of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, in Case Roll No. 2.182-1998, "Coelemu," regarding the crimes of kidnapping committed against LUIS BERNARDO ACEVEDO ANDRADE, OMAR LAUTARO HENRÍQUEZ LÓPEZ, AND ARTURO SEGUNDO VILLEGAS VILLAGRÁN, issued a first-instance final judgment, by which:

(I.-) Regarding the criminal action

a) JUAN LORENZO ABELLO VILDÓSOLA is sentenced, in his capacity as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against ARTURO VILLEGAS VILLAGRÁN, to a penalty of 10 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; b) JOSÉ RENÉ JARA CARO is sentenced, in his capacity as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against LUIS ACEVEDO ANDRADE, to a penalty of 10 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; c) HERIBERTO OSVALDO ROJAS JIMÉNEZ is sentenced, in his capacity as perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against LUIS ACEVEDO ANDRADE, to 10 years and 1 day of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; d) CARLOS AGUILLÓN HENRÍQUEZ is sentenced, in his capacity as accomplice to the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against ARTURO VILLEGAS VILLAGRÁN, to a penalty of 3 years of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; e) BENIAMINO ANTONIO BOZZO BASSO is sentenced, in his capacity as accomplice to the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against OMAR MANRÍQUEZ LÓPEZ, to suffer a penalty of 3 years of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; f) SERGIO ARÉVALO CID is sentenced, in his capacity as accessory after the fact to the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against LUIS ACEVEDO ANDRADE, to suffer a penalty of 541 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; g) RENATO GUILLERMO RODRÍGUEZ SULLIVAN is sentenced, in his capacity as accessory after the fact to the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against LUIS ACEVEDO ANDRADE, to suffer a penalty of 541 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs; h) MAXIMINO CARES LARA is sentenced, in his capacity as accessory after the fact to the crime of aggravated kidnapping committed against LUIS ACEVEDO ANDRADE, to suffer a penalty of 541 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, plus legal accessories and the payment of court costs. Given the duration of the custodial sentences imposed on the convicted individuals BENIAMINO BOZZO BASSO, CARLOS AGUILLÓN HENRÍQUEZ, SERGIO ARÉVALO CID, RENATO GUILLERMO RODRÍGUEZ SULLIVAN, and MAXIMINO CARES LARA, as they meet the requirements contained in Article 4 of Law No. 18.216, they are granted the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence. (II.-) Regarding the civil action, the exception of incompetence raised by the State Defense Council is accepted.

Source: Judiciary, 2011

Sentence issued in cases of forcibly disappeared persons from Coelemu and Penco

Special Judge Alejandro Solís issued a first-instance sentence in the investigation into the aggravated kidnappings of Luis Acevedo Andrade, Omar Henríquez López, and Arturo Villegas Villagrán, which occurred for the first two in the commune of Coelemu and for the latter in Penco, Eighth Region, starting in October 1974.

The investigation into the Coelemu cases, which correspond to the former mayor Luis Acevedo Andrade, detained on April 30, 1974, and Omar Henríquez López, a socialist militant, detained on September 6, 1974, were also investigated by Special Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia, within the framework of more than 200 criminal complaints he was processing against Augusto Pinochet.

In the course of those investigations, then-Judge Guzmán carried out a series of proceedings, including excavations in search of the remains of possible victims. One of these took place on March 14, 2011, in the Maitenco Bajo sector, on the banks of the Itata River, in the commune of Trehuaco, where, thanks to information provided by a witness, it was possible to exhume the remains of a body.

However, subsequent forensic examinations ruled out that it corresponded to either of the two cases of forcibly disappeared persons from Coelemu. In May 2001, Judge Guzmán carried out other inquiries in the Las Nieves sector, about 20 kilometers from Coelemu, where it was indicated that in 1977 the body of a man found floating in the waters of the Itata River had been buried.

Subsequently, bones were discovered in the vicinity of the Coelemu Police Station, without their identity having been established to date. After Guzmán's resignation from the Judiciary, the case returned to the hands of Judge Alejandro Solís, who had initially investigated it, and who on August 24 indicted four retired Carabineros as accessories after the fact to the aggravated kidnapping of the former mayor of Coelemu, Luis Acevedo Andrade.

The former communist official was last seen alive at the current central police station in Concepción, after being detained by the uniformed police. The resolution affected generals (ret.) Sergio Arévalo Cid, Renato González Sullivan, and former non-commissioned officers Máximo Cares Lara and Francisco Vera Vargas, who were prosecuted for being accessories after the fact.

The sentence More than three years later and after further proceedings, Judge Solís issued a first-instance sentence in the case of Acevedo and Henríquez, and also in the situation that affected Arturo Villegas Villagrán, a taxi driver and former union leader of Fanaloza, of socialist affiliation, who was detained on September 18, 1973, by a Carabineros patrol under the command of Lieutenant Juan Avello and composed of Sergeant Luis Alberto Benítez Venegas and Corporals Franklin Crisosto Maldonado and Carlos Burdiles Pedreros, all belonging to the Penco Police Station.

Thus, Solís ruled a penalty of 10 years and one day of imprisonment, without benefits, for Juan Avello Vildósola, as the perpetrator of the aggravated kidnapping of Arturo Villegas. And for Carlos Aguillón Henríquez, three years of imprisonment as an accomplice to the aggravated kidnapping of Arturo Villegas.

In the case of Luis Acevedo, Heriberto Rojas Jiménez and José Jara Caro were sentenced to ten years and one day, without benefits, as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping of the former mayor of Coelemu.

Meanwhile, retired generals Sergio Arévalo Cid and Renato González Rodríguez Sullivan and former non-commissioned officer Maximino Cares Lara were sentenced to 541 days of imprisonment each, as accessories after the fact to the kidnapping of Luis Acevedo, but all three were granted the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

Regarding the situation of Omar Henríquez, Judge Solís sentenced Beniamino Bozzo Basso to 3 years of imprisonment as an accomplice to the crime of kidnapping, with the benefit of conditional remission. Now these sentences must be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

Source: Tribuna del Bio-Bio, May 4, 2011

Protest against the possible release of six former military officers of the Chilean dictatorship

Victims of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) protested today in Santiago against the possible release of six former military officers convicted of human rights violations, after the Justice system accepted several requests submitted by the inmates.

The Court of Appeals of Santiago, through its Parole Commission, decided to accept 198 of the 1,822 requests submitted by inmates of the Santiago Metropolitan Region to access this benefit, a decision that must still be ratified by the Government.

Of these, six are former military officers serving time in the Cordillera and Punta Peuco prisons, such as Víctor Pinto Pérez, sentenced to 8 years for the crime against union leader Tucapel Jiménez, and Carlos López Tapia, who directed the former Villa Grimaldi torture center.

López is a cousin of former judge Juan Guzmán, the first to prosecute Augusto Pinochet in Chile. The other beneficiaries are Primitivo Castro Campos, Luis Romo Morales, Miguel Soto Duarte, and Alejandro Molina Cisternas.

Following the judicial decision, the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Justice of the Santiago metropolitan region will be the one to determine whether or not to finally approve the release of these repressors.

Opposition deputies Hugo Gutiérrez and Tucapel Jiménez, the latter the son of the murdered union leader, will present a letter in the coming days to President Sebastián Piñera to request that he prevent the six former military officers from being released, according to what Gutiérrez himself reported to Efe.

In protest against the judicial resolution, a dozen members of the Association of Relatives of Political Executions (AFEP) occupied the offices of the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior in Santiago today.

The president of the AFEP, Alicia Lira, explained that with this occupation they intend to express their "repudiation of the way in which the Government has been indifferent" to the victims, while "the perpetrators continue to be given benefits and are being released." Lira also denounced that in the last year the Human Rights Program has filed only 17 criminal complaints for cases of political executions and has not joined the more than 700 that the AFEP has presented to the courts.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Association of Relatives of Forcibly Disappeared Persons (AFDD) plan to meet in the coming days with the president of the Supreme Court, Milton Juica, to express their "stupefaction" at the possible release of repressors. "It seems unacceptable to us that at this point this type of favor is once again being done for human rights violators," said Gabriela Zúñiga, spokesperson for the AFDD, to Efe, who has also requested a meeting with the Minister of Justice, Felipe Bulnes.

On the other hand, Supreme Court judge Alejandro Solís sentenced eight repressors yesterday for the aggravated kidnapping (disappearance) of three opponents, which occurred in 1974, although he only ordered effective prison time for three of them.

In a first-instance sentence for the case known as "Coelemu," the magistrate sentenced former Carabineros Juan Abello Vildósola, José Jara Caro, and Heriberto Rojas Jiménez to ten years and one day of imprisonment, without benefits, as perpetrators of the acts.

In addition, he sentenced civilians Carlos Aguillón Henríquez and Beniamino Bozzo Basso to 3 years in prison as accomplices, and former Carabineros Sergio Arévalo Cid, Maximino Cares Lara, and Renato Rodríguez Sullivan to 541 days in prison as accessories after the fact.

He granted all five the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, a benefit similar to supervised release. This investigation refers to the disappearance of communist militant Luis Acevedo Andrade, who was mayor of Coelemu, and socialists Omar Henríquez López and Arturo Villegas Villagrán, which occurred in 1974 in that town in the southern Biobío region.

Source: Agencia EFE, May 4, 2011