Judge Roger Le Loire issued 15 international arrest warrants via Interpol against former Chilean military personnel and Paul Schaefer.

Among those sought are General (ret.) Javier Palacios, General (ret.) Luis Ramírez Pineda, and Rafael Ahumada Valderrama for the disappearance of Dr. Jorge Klein at the Palacio de la Moneda. For the kidnapping of Etienne Pesle in Temuco, the arrest of Emilio Sandoval Poo and Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas, commander of the Campamento Maqueu in Temuco, was ordered.

For the disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau, the arrest of Gerardo Godoy García, a member of the Carabineros, was ordered; as well as Basclay Zapata, Miguel Krasnoff M., Marcelo Moren B., Pedro Espinoza, Manuel Contreras, and Paul Schaefer, former head of Colonia Dignidad.

For the kidnapping and disappearance of Jean Claudet Fernández, an arrest warrant was issued against Manuel Contreras, Enrique Arancibia Clavel, and Generals (ret.) Raúl Iturriaga N. and José Zara H. Previously, warrants had been issued against Augusto Pinochet, Herman Brady, and Osvaldo Romo.

Source: fasic.org/, October 25, 2001

France to try thirteen Chilean repressors in absentia

After nearly ten years since the French justice system decided to try a group of Chilean repressors and one Argentine for the kidnapping and disappearance of five Franco-Chilean citizens, the Grand Tribunal of Paris has set the trial date for May 19–23.

The 13 Chileans and the Argentine will be tried in absentia (according to French legal procedure), as neither Chile nor Argentina honored the extradition requests made by France at the time. Among the Chileans are the former head of the DINA, Manuel Contreras, and the leader of the German sect Colonia Dignidad, Paul Schaefer.

Four of the initially sought Chileans are already dead: the dictator Augusto Pinochet; General Javier Palacios, who commanded the ground assault on La Moneda on September 11, 1973; Aviation Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas, commander of the Temuco air base; and former civilian agent Osvaldo “Guatón” Romo.

The Chilean officers (all retired) who will stand trial, in addition to Contreras and Schaefer, are: Emilio Sandoval Poo, a southern businessman; Joaquín Ramírez Pineda, former commander of the Tacna Regiment; Rafael Ahumada Valderrama; Carabineros Lieutenant Colonel Gerardo Godoy García (“El Cachete Chico”); Basclay Zapata Reyes (“El Troglo”), a DINA Army non-commissioned officer; Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, a DINA brigadier and former head of the Águila Brigade; Marcelo Moren Brito, a DINA colonel and former head of Villa Grimaldi; Pedro Espinoza Bravo, a brigadier and former second-in-command of the DINA; Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, a DINA general and former head of its foreign department; José Zara Holger, a DINA brigadier and former head of its foreign department; and former DINA civilian agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel, who last year finished serving a prison sentence in Buenos Aires for the 1974 assassination of General Carlos Prats and his wife, Sofía Cuthbert. Also to be tried is the former head of Argentine Army intelligence (SIDE) in Mendoza and Bahía Blanca during the last dictatorship, José Osvaldo Riveiro, alias “Balita.” The fourteen criminals, most with long records of crimes against humanity, will be tried for the kidnapping and disappearance of Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce, Jean-Yves Claudet Fernández, René Marcel Amiel Baquet, George Klein Pipper, and Etienne Pesle de Menil. Regarding the five victims: Chanfreau was detained in July 1974 in Santiago, and his name appears on the list of the 119 disappeared of Operation Colombo—a preamble to Operation Condor—through which the Chilean dictatorship attempted to make it appear that they had fled to Argentina. Claudet was detained in Buenos Aires in November 1975 as part of Operation Condor, in which the intelligence services of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay also participated. In this case, Arancibia Clavel, or “Luis Felipe Alemparte,” sent a memorandum from Buenos Aires (November 1975) addressed to “Luis Gutiérrez”—the codename for the head of the DINA foreign department, at that time Iturriaga Neumann—which stated: “Claudet was subjected to interrogation... He no longer exists, he is RIP (Requiescat in pace).” The memo, along with others similar to it, was discovered in Buenos Aires by Judge María Servini and became part of the file opened there for the Prats-Cuthbert crime. Amiel was arrested in Mendoza by Chilean and Argentine agents in 1977. Klein was an advisor to Allende and was detained at La Moneda on the day of the military coup. Pesle was a priest kidnapped in Temuco in September 1973.

Source: La Nación, February 12, 2008

Trial of 17 former Pinochet collaborators to take place in May in Paris

According to French police sources, the proceeding is the first of its kind regarding the Pinochet government and will be held from May 19 to 23. PARIS—The trial of 17 former collaborators of Augusto Pinochet, including the former head of the junta's secret police and the founder of Colonia Dignidad, for the disappearance of four French citizens during the Chilean military dictatorship (1973–90), will take place next May at the Criminal Court of Paris.

The trial, the first of its kind regarding the Pinochet government, will be held from May 19 to 23, judicial sources informed EFE today. The accused, who are expected to be tried in absentia, are all Chilean except for one Argentine, and almost all are military personnel.

They are charged with arbitrary arrest and kidnapping accompanied by torture or acts of barbarism, or complicity in these crimes. The aggravating factor of torture or acts of barbarism carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In addition to being the “posthumous trial of Augusto Pinochet,” it will also be “the only one covering the entire system of repression set in motion by the Chilean dictatorship,” the four lawyers for the families of the disappeared French citizens stated in a press release today.

They indicated that they, along with the families, “greatly welcome” that “after 10 years of investigation,” the trial of “the members of the Chilean military junta” will open on the aforementioned date.

The hearings will allow for the testimony of “several historical witnesses,” noted lawyers Sophie Thonon, Claude Katz, William Bourdon, and Benjamin Sarfati, without providing further details. The announcement of the hearing comes almost a year after the investigating magistrate, Sophie Clément, ordered that the accused be tried by the special Criminal Court.

This trial concerns those responsible for the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and other bodies that supported Pinochet in his “effort to eliminate the opposition,” the magistrate indicated at the time.

Clément had disregarded the Prosecutor's request to dismiss the case against several of the 19 initial defendants, including the founder of Colonia Dignidad, Paul Schaefer. Augusto Pinochet and General Javier Palacios Ruhman, who were among the 19 prosecuted against whom the French justice system issued international arrest warrants in 2001 and 2005, were removed from the proceedings as they died in 2006.

Palacios Ruhman had directed the assault on the Palacio de la Moneda during the 1973 coup d'état against President Salvador Allende. The protagonists Among those to be tried, in addition to Schaefer, is the former head of Pinochet's secret police, Manuel Contreras.

Completing the list are Rafael Ahumada Valderrama, Enrique Arancibia Clavel, Herman Brady Roche, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Gerardo Godoy García, and Raúl Iturriaga Neumann. Also added to the list are Miguel Krasnoff Martchenko, Marcelo Moren Brito, Andrés Rigoberto Pacheco Cárdenas, Luis Joachim Ramírez Pineda, Osvaldo Enrique Romo Mena, Emilio Sandoval Poo, Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Zara Holger, and the Argentine José Osvaldo Riveiro.

Two of them, Pacheco Cárdenas and Romo Mena, have died since the investigating judge ordered the trial, and their deaths will be “noted” at the opening of the hearing, sources told EFE. The four disappeared French citizens are Alfonso Chanfreau Oyarce, Etienne Pesle, Georges Klein, and Jean-Yves Claudet Fernández.

The first three were detained by DINA agents between 1973 and 1975, and the latter was detained during a trip to Argentina, also at the request of the DINA. The judicial investigation into these disappearances was opened in France in 1998, following complaints filed by their relatives.

Although Pinochet has been removed from the proceedings due to his death, he is mentioned in the voluminous document, nearly 200 pages long, prepared by Clément, which places the case in its context.

Source: El Mercurio, February 11, 2008

Historic ruling on the crimes of the Chilean dictatorship

On Friday, December 17, 2010, at 5:00 PM French time (1:00 PM Chilean time), the president of the Paris Criminal Court announced a historic ruling regarding the forced disappearance of four Franco-Chilean citizens: Georges Klein, Etienne Pesle, Alfonso Chanfreau, and Jean-Yves Claudet, who were forcibly disappeared during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Juan Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda and Pedro Espinoza Bravo were sentenced to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment; Hernán Julio Brady Roche, Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, and Miguel Krasnoff Martchenko to 30 years in prison; Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Enrique Lautaro Arancibia Clavel, Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, Luis Joaquim Ramírez Pineda, and José Osvaldo Riveiro to 25 years in prison; Rafael Francisco Ahumada Valderrama to 20 years in prison; and Emilio Sandoval Poo to 15 years in prison. “They have been convicted of illegal arrest, kidnapping, and detention, conduct aggravated by torture, thus reflecting the serious crimes committed during the 17 years of the dictatorship against thousands of Chileans, their families, and society as a whole,” declared Viviana Uribe, president of CODEPU. None of the responsible parties cited appeared at the trial, despite being summoned by the French courts, and they also refused to be represented. Between December 8 and 17, 2010, the relatives of the four victims were accompanied by witnesses, experts, and human rights figures who traveled from Chile and other countries. The large public that attended the trial followed the debates of the eight days of this historic trial very closely. For the first time in Chile's history, the justice system of another country has identified and punished the conduct committed by these perpetrators. “We hope that this decision leads the Chilean justice system to act with speed, transparency, and total independence regarding the serious human rights violations committed during the dictatorship,” said Claude Katz, a lawyer for the FIDH and the LDH. More than 200 people participated with fervor and emotion in the celebration of this judicial victory. Friday, December 18, at 4:30 PM Verdict pronounced by the President of the Court, Hervé STEPHAN They have been convicted by the Paris Court of Assizes for arrest, kidnapping aggravated by acts of torture, and the disappearance of French citizens:

LIFE IMPRISONMENT

• Juan Manuel CONTRERAS SEPÚLVEDA
• Pedro Octavio ESPINOZA BRAVO

30 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT

• Herman Julio BRADY ROCHE
• Miguel KRASNOFF MARCHENKO
• Luis Marcelo MOREN BRITO

25 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT

• Enrique Lautaro ARANCIBIA CLAVEL
• Gerardo Ernesto GODOY GARCÍA
• Raúl Eduardo ITURRIAGA NEUMANN
• Luis Joachim RAMÍREZ PINEDA
• José Osvaldo RIVEIRO alias RAWSON
• Basclay Humberto ZAPATA REYES

20 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT

• Rafael Francisco AHUMADA VALDERRAMA

15 YEARS OF IMPRISONMENT

• Emilio SANDOVAL POO

ACQUITTED

• José Octavio ZARA HOLGER

Source: International Federation for Human Rights, France, January 5, 2011

Extradition of 10 former military officers to France rejected: Among them are “Mamo” Contreras and Miguel Krassnoff

All of them were convicted in absentia on December 17, 2010, by the Paris Criminal Court to sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to life imprisonment, as were Enrique Arancibia Clavel and Herman Brady, who died after the sentence.

Supreme Court Minister Rosa María Maggi refused to proceed with the extradition of 10 Chilean citizens convicted in France for the homicides of four French citizens in Chile and Argentina, starting on September 11, 1973.

These are retired officers Luis Ramírez Pineda, Emilio Sandoval Poo, Basclay Zapata Reyes, Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, Gerardo Godoy García, Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Marcelo Moren Brito, and Rafael Ahumada Valderrama.

Several of these were transferred in September from the Cordillera prison to Punta Peuco. All of them were convicted in absentia on December 17, 2010, by the Paris Criminal Court to sentences ranging from 15 years in prison to life imprisonment, as were Enrique Arancibia Clavel and Herman Brady, who died after the sentence.

The group was tried and convicted in France for the death of French citizens Georges Klein, an advisor to the late President Salvador Allende; former priest Etienne Pesle, who worked on agrarian reform; and Alfonso Chanfreau, a leader of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) (all disappeared in Chile between 1973 and 1975).

Also considered is the case of Jean-Yves Claudet, also a militant of the MIR, who disappeared in Buenos Aires, though at the hands of Chilean agents—the same ones to whom, among others, the deadly attack against General Carlos Prats in the Argentine capital is attributed.

Source: Cambio 21, November 4, 2013

Italian Supreme Court confirms life sentences for 4 Chileans involved in Operation Condor

The convicted are former DINA member Pedro Espinoza, military officer Daniel Aguirre Mora, PDI member Carlos Luco Astroz, and the late former intendant Hernán Ramírez Ramírez. The Supreme Court of Italy confirmed the life sentences for 14 Chilean and Uruguayan military officers and leaders involved in Operation Condor, specifically accused of the deaths of Italian citizens.

The convicted Chileans are former DINA member Pedro Espinoza, military officer Daniel Aguirre Mora, PDI member Carlos Luco Astroz, and the late former intendant Hernán Ramírez Ramírez. The Italian Court thus revalidated the July 2019 sentence handed down by the Rome Court of Appeal, in the second instance, against 24 human rights criminals.

The investigation took more than 20 years, as it was opened in 1998, and is of high value as the sentences must be served in absentia. Regarding this confirmation of justice, human rights lawyer Cristian Cruz noted that they are acting based on the significance of the crimes. “These are sentences consistent with the gravity of the crime, with the way the states operated through intelligence services and armed forces, where there was a community to commit crimes not only within each of the territories—Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina—but it has become clear that, in general, the intelligence services and the dictatorships operated even outside their own borders, outside the borders that formed the Condor community. One of the cases is the Letelier case or what happened to Bernardo Leighton in Italy.” “What the Italian justice system has done is recognize the responsibility of the agents in this entire web of evil that the governments and agents carried out,” he added. The Supreme Court's decision adds to one known last week, in which the conviction of Colonel Rafael Ahumada Valderrama, non-commissioned officer Orlando Moreno Vásquez, and Brigadier Manuel Vásquez Chahuán was ratified. “I dwell on Rafael Ahumada Valderrama because he has been convicted in Chile for the forced disappearance of 2 Uruguayan citizens and one Brazilian in September 1973; that is, prior to what has been called Operation Condor, at least one of these agents had already acted against citizens of other countries,” the lawyer Cristian Cruz expressed regarding these convictions. On the other hand, regarding the international importance of this ruling and how it should be symbolic in Chile, the lawyer stated that “the correct perspective today is to demonstrate that these crimes are internationally prosecutable, that they generate international repudiation. Proof of this is that courts in other countries have investigated and ruled on events committed in Chile or in the Southern Cone.” “The magnitude of the sentences is also relevant. Here in Chile, there are usually not such high sentences, although certainly our courts are generally investigating. I think they are changing their criteria regarding the statute of limitations, where the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has already given its opinion that it should not be applied,” he added. Furthermore, Cruz highlighted that these types of convictions highlight the perseverance that relatives and human rights organizations have had in seeking justice despite the passage of time and in different places.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, July 9, 2021

Operation Condor: Extradition sought for former Chilean military officers convicted in Italy

An Italian delegation composed of a lawyer and representatives of the victims arrived in Chile to seek the extradition of former military officers convicted of human rights violations within the framework of Operation Condor during the Pinochet dictatorship.

Two of them remain at liberty. This Friday, an Italian delegation arrived in Chile, composed of a lawyer and representatives of the victims of Operation Condor, seeking the extradition of the former Chilean military officers convicted of human rights violations in this case.

This follows the conclusion of the so-called “Condor Process” by the European country's Supreme Court in 2021, after more than 20 years of investigations and judicial proceedings that began in 1998 following the arrest of dictator Augusto Pinochet in London.

The Italian litigation for Operation Condor sentenced 24 Latin American military officers and repressors involved to life imprisonment, six of whom are Chilean. In addition to seeking methods for extradition, the Italian delegation will make contact with the civil parties and witnesses of the trial that took place in Rome and visit the places where the events occurred.

Along with this, they will have various meetings with the victims' relatives, as well as with witnesses from the Rome trial and with parliamentary and government authorities. The facts The military officers convicted in the trial are accused of torturing, forcibly disappearing, and murdering 43 Latin American citizens of Italian origin in the 1970s: six Argentines kidnapped in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil; four Chileans kidnapped in Chile; and thirteen Uruguayans kidnapped in Argentina.

To these, another 20 Uruguayans kidnapped in Argentina are added, but whose disappearance is attributed to only one of the defendants, the Italian-Uruguayan Jorge Néstor Troccoli, who was a member of the Uruguayan Navy's intelligence service.

The convicted Chileans, all sentenced to life imprisonment, are Daniel Aguirre Mora, former prefect of the Investigative Police (PDI); Carlos Luco Astroza, a PDI official (both currently at liberty); former non-commissioned officer Orlando Moreno Vásquez; former colonel Rafael Ahumada Valderrama; and former brigadiers and DINA members Pedro Espinoza Bravo and Manuel Vásquez Chahuán.

All were convicted for the disappearance, torture, and death of their victims within the framework of Operation Condor. So far, only the extradition of the first three has been requested, while those of Ahumada, Espinoza, and Vásquez are in process.

The delegation is composed of Arturo Salerni, defense lawyer for the relatives of Operation Condor victims; Jorge Ithurburu, representative for several of the civil parties in the trial, who also accompanied and assisted the families of the disappeared Chileans from their first complaints in 1999 until the sentences of 2019 and 2021; and Sofía Ithurburu, media officer for 24marzo.it, a non-governmental organization that has promoted the action and supported relatives and lawyers in the process over these years.

The victims of the process Juan José Montiglio Murúa: 24 years old, PS, head of the GAP unit, was detained at the Palacio de la Moneda on the day of the coup d'état, taken to the Tacna Regiment, and murdered in Peldehue on 09/13/1973.

He remains to this day in the status of forcibly disappeared. For his case, former colonel Rafael Ahumada Valderrama was convicted, whose extradition has been requested and is pending resolution. Omar Roberto Venturelli Leonelli: 31 years old, former priest, MIR militant, professor in the Department of Education at the Catholic University, Temuco branch.

He was detained in Temuco on September 25, 1973, when he presented himself voluntarily after being called by radio. He was taken to the Tucapel Regiment and then to the Temuco jail. The family stated that they were informed that he had been released on October 4; from that date on, they searched for him without result.

For his case, former PDI members Daniel Aguirre Mora and Carlos Luco Astroza, and former non-commissioned officer Orlando Moreno were convicted. Juan Bosco Maino Canales: 27 years old, MAPU, student. He was detained on May 26, 1976, along with two other MAPU militants, the married couple Elizabeth Rekas Urra and Antonio Elizondo Ormaechea, in the couple's apartment.

All were taken to Villa Grimaldi, from where they were never seen again. For his case, Brigadier Pedro Espinoza Bravo was sentenced to life imprisonment. Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño: 41 years old, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, electrical mechanic, was detained on 05/05/1976 along with four other PC leaders in a “trap” set up by DINA agents at the property located at Calle Conferencia No. 1587.

For his case, Brigadier Pedro Espinoza Bravo was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, April 15, 2022

Operation Condor: House arrest for former DINA agents convicted in Italy

The military officers currently face an extradition process at the request of Italy to serve a life sentence in the foreign country. Supreme Court Minister Ángela Vivanco Martínez ordered house arrest for four former agents of the dictatorship, convicted to life imprisonment by the Italian justice system for the crime of 43 Latin American citizens of Italian origin in the 1970s, within the framework of Operation Condor.

Among them are four Chilean victims. These are former agents Orlando Moreno Vásquez, Manuel Vásquez Chahuán, Rafael Ahumada Valderrama, and Daniel Aguirre Mora. Of the other two sought, one is deceased and the other, Pedro Espinoza Bravo, is imprisoned in Punta Peuco serving various sentences for other crimes against humanity.

The military officers currently face an extradition process at the request of Italy, in which representatives of the victims have joined as parties. Among them, lawyers Nelson Caucoto and Francisco Bustos act on behalf of the daughter of Juan José Montiglio Murúa, one of the four Italo-Chilean victims.

Montiglio was 24 years old, a member of the Socialist Party, and head of the unit of the Personal Guard of President Allende (GAP). He was detained at the Palacio de la Moneda on the day of the military coup, subsequently taken to the Tacna Regiment, and murdered in Peldehue two days later.

To date, he remains in the status of forcibly disappeared. Previously, the criminals were under the precautionary measure of a national travel ban, which was modified at the request of the representation of the Republic of Italy, the Human Rights Program, and the plaintiffs, who requested a more intensive precautionary measure, for which they were granted total house arrest.

For lawyer Francisco Bustos, this new measure ordered by Magistrate Vivanco is of great importance, since “as we are near the end of this phase of the process, the need to ensure that the requested individuals are at the disposal of the court is recognized.

Likewise, I am confident that we will demonstrate that all the requirements to grant the extradition are met and ensure that the sentences imposed by the Court of Rome are served.” Conviction 20 years later The other Italo-Chilean victims are Omar Roberto Venturelli Leonelli (31), former priest, MIR militant, detained on September 25, 1973; Juan Bosco Maino Canales (27), MAPU militant, student, and detained on May 26, 1976; and Jaime Patricio Donato Avendaño (41), member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, electrical mechanic, detained on May 5, 1976.

In 1998, at the urging of their relatives, the Italian justice system began the investigation into this process, and only after 20 years did the Supreme Court of Italy issue the ruling that sentenced 24 Latin American genocidaires involved in Operation Condor to life imprisonment.

In April of last year, an Italian delegation composed of a lawyer and a representative of the victims visited our country to learn details of the process taking place in Chile, contribute to raising awareness about this historic trial in our country, and collaborate with the extradition of those involved and convicted in this case.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, March 24, 2023

Supreme Court confirms conviction of military officers (ret.) for the qualified kidnapping of Uruguayan and Brazilian citizens in 1973

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the highest court confirmed the sentence that convicted Jorge Luis Tapia Castillo and Rafael Francisco Ahumada Valderrama to 10 years and one day in prison as authors of the crimes, after ruling out error in the facts established by the appellate court and the criminal participation of the appellants.

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeals filed by the defense against the sentence that convicted two retired Army personnel for their responsibility in the crime of qualified kidnapping of Uruguayan citizens Alberto Fontela Alonso and Juan Ángel Cendán Ahumada and Brazilian citizen Tulio Roberto Quintiliano Cardoso.

These crimes were perpetrated starting September 12, 1973, in Santiago. In a unanimous ruling (case roll 22.184-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and lawyer (i) Carolina Coppo—confirmed the challenged sentence, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which convicted Jorge Luis Tapia Castillo and Rafael Francisco Ahumada Valderrama to 10 years and one day in prison as authors of the crimes, after ruling out error in the facts established by the appellate court and the criminal participation of the appellants. “That the facts outlined above, derived from the procedural documents indicated in each case, are real, since they occurred in a specific place and time and are proven, that is, legally accredited in the case files through the means of proof detailed in the preceding motive. They are real and proven facts, this Supreme Court has explained, ‘indications of any kind, the statement of a competent witness or several incompetent ones, the opinion of a single expert, the extrajudicial declaration, and other similar ones, provided that they form part of the merit of the case files’ (SCS, 12.14.1967, R., t. 65.Secc. 4th, p. 71). Regarding the fact that these events are multiple, such a requirement is beyond questioning given their plurality regarding the defendants Tapia Castillo and Ahumada Valderrama. From the indicated, precise, and concordant facts or indications, judicial presumptions of the participation of the accused in the legally established crimes can be inferred through the logical-evaluative exercise to which the court is called,” the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: “That, being satisfied the requirements of numerals 1 and 2 of article 488 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—the only ones reviewable in this venue—it must be concluded that the sentencers, in establishing the participation of Jorge Luis Tapia Castillo and Rafael Francisco Ahumada Valderrama in the investigated events, which flows clearly from the merit of the case files, did not incur in the error attributed by their defenses, which is why the cause under study will be dismissed regarding the appeals filed.” “Furthermore, it should be remembered that in said appeals, the cassation rule established in numeral 1 of article 546 of the adjectival compendium was invoked tangentially, which is incompatible with the analyzed cause since the premise of both appeals is articulated on the request for an acquittal, and the named cassation cause necessarily requires a conviction, which is not coherent in an appeal of strict law,” it adds. Therefore, it is resolved that: “the cassation appeals on the merits filed by the defenses of the convicted Jorge Luis Tapia Castillo and Rafael Francisco Ahumada Valderrama against the sentence of February 8, 2021, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, and which appears on page 4.103 and following, are rejected, and it is not void.” Tacna Regiment In the first-instance ruling, visiting minister Mario Carroza established the following facts: “That on the day the described events began, September 12, 1973, the Tacna Regiment, under the command of the late Army Colonel Luis Joaquín Ramírez Pineda, maintained for operational activities the Security and Intelligence Section II, a department in charge of receiving detainees who came from other places in Santiago, in this case, the Military School, in order to interrogate them and inform the Santiago Garrison, under the command of the late General Sergio Arellano Stark, what their backgrounds were and the degree of danger they posed to the Military Government, an entity that was the one that finally decided the fate of the prisoners, their designs being faithfully fulfilled by the same Section II. That in this context, it is that on that day the foreign citizens Fontela, Cendán, and Quintiliano were detained and previously transferred as prisoners to the Military School, a facility where the Military Institutes Command and the staff of the so-called ‘East Grouping’ were installed; they registered and interrogated them, and then it was decided to send them to the Tacna Regiment, which had been implemented in those days to lock up all political prisoners who were detained, and from the moment they entered, no more indications were obtained of what could have happened to them in said military unit, despite the intense search efforts of their relatives; What happened that day, September 12. 1.- Regarding the qualified kidnapping of Alberto Fontela Alonso and Juan Ángel Cendán Almada: That on that day, September 12, 1973, at night, without an order from a competent authority or any well-founded reason, a heavily armed military contingent traveling in Army trucks entered the property located on Calle Espoz in the Vitacura commune, in which the Chilean citizen Anne Bicheno Armour, pregnant at the time, was located, together with her partner, the Uruguayan national Alberto Fontela Alonso, and a friend, also of Uruguayan nationality, Juan Ángel Cendán Almada, both sympathizers of the Tupamaros movement, who were immediately asked for their identification, and after a search of the home, they were detained and put on the truck, then taken to the Military School, the perimeter where the Military Institutes Command and the grouping formed after September 11 for operational tasks, called ‘East Grouping,’ functioned; in said place, they remained deprived of liberty and locked up without rights, together with other people who were in the same situation. Subsequently, personnel from this Military Institutes Command proceeded to interrogate and identify them, then ordered them to be transferred to the Tacna Regiment, with the exception of the prisoner Anne Bicheno, who was taken to the Armored Regiment No. 2, where she regained her freedom, unlike the Uruguayan citizens Fontela and Cendán, of whom finally no more news was ever had, their traces being lost in the military unit. II.- Regarding the qualified kidnapping of Tulio Roberto Quintiliano Cardoso: That on that same day, September 12, 1973, near 10:00 PM, the Brazilian citizen Tulio Roberto Quintiliano Cardoso, a member of the Brazilian Revolutionary Communist Party, civil engineer, and worker for the Agrarian Reform Corporation (CORA), was detained along with his spouse Beatriz Narcisa Verri Whitaker when both were at their home located on Avenida Américo No. 2.294; they were forced to board a military truck and taken to the facilities of the Military Institutes Command, which, as has been pointed out, was installed at the Military School; once they interrogated and identified him, they were transported to the Tacna Regiment, but on the way, Beatriz Verri was ordered to get off the vehicle, and the State agents continued their journey only with Tulio Quintiliano; they entered him into the military unit, and from that moment on, there was no news of his person.” In the civil aspect, the sentence that ordered the treasury to pay a total compensation of $240,000,000 for moral damages to the victims' relatives is maintained.

Source: pdju.cl, October 25, 2023