Minister Mario Carroza sentences retired Carabineros officer for the homicide of a peasant in Palmilla.

The Magistrate sentenced Héctor Baeza Muñoz to 5 years and one day of imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of the homicide. Likewise, he acquitted Moisés Valencia Ibacache due to a lack of participation in the events.

The Minister visiting for human rights cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, sentenced a retired Carabineros officer for his responsibility in the qualified homicide of the peasant Manuel Antonio López López , which occurred in October 1973 in Palmilla, O'Higgins Region.

The Magistrate sentenced Héctor Baeza Muñoz to 5 years and one day of imprisonment for his responsibility as the perpetrator of the homicide. Likewise, he acquitted Moisés Valencia Ibacache due to a lack of participation in the events.

Minister Carroza's investigation established that: On October 13, 1973, the citizen Manuel Antonio López López, a 42-year-old peasant, was detained without a legal or administrative order inside the Carabineros station in the town known as El Huique in the VI Region, and around 10:00 hours he was taken by Carabineros officers Moisés Valencia Ibacache and Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz to the Pupilla settlement, in the commune of Palmilla, located near Santa Cruz, where the detainee had allegedly stated that he kept hidden weapons.

It adds that once in the area and at the moment when parts corresponding to some weapons had already been found, with the help of two workers from the settlement, who after that task were forced to leave the excavation site, the victim, in his discouragement at not finding the weapons and intimidated by his armed guards, made the decision to escape, and at the moment he attempted to do so, the Carabineros officer Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz decided to prevent it and fired a lethal shot at close range into the abdominal region, causing multiple ruptures to the intestinal area with the impact, as recorded in his death certificate at the Civil Registry Service.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, May 25, 2018

Santiago Court sentences retired Carabineros officer for homicide at a Palmilla settlement in 1973

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced retired Carabineros officer Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz as the perpetrator of the consummated crime of qualified homicide of Manuel Antonio López López . The crime was perpetrated in the commune of Palmilla, O’Higgins Region, in October 1973.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 3.669-2018), the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Omar Astudillo, Jenny Book, and lawyer (i) Carolina Coppo—reduced the sentence that Baeza Muñoz must serve from 5 years and one day to 4 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release. "Consequently, just as the Judicial Prosecutor's Office expresses in its opinion, two mitigating circumstances favor the accused, so that in accordance with the provisions of Article 67 of the Penal Code, the penalty assigned to the crime is subject to a reduction of two degrees, obtaining a custodial sentence of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, that is, from 3 years and one day to 5 years. Within that range, precisely because two mitigating circumstances concur without aggravating ones, the appropriate action—following the parameters of Article 69 of the same Code—is to set the penalty at 4 years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree," the ruling states. The sentence also confirmed the acquittal of former Carabineros officer Moisés Valencia Ibacache due to a lack of participation. During the investigation stage of the case, visiting minister Mario Carroza established the following facts: "On October 13, 1973, the citizen Manuel Antonio López López , a 42-year-old peasant, was detained without a legal or administrative order inside the Carabineros station of the town known as El Huique in the VI Region, and around 10:00 hours he was taken by Carabineros officers Moisés Valencia Ibacache and Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz to the Pupilla settlement, in the commune of Palmilla, located near Santa Cruz, where the detainee had allegedly stated that he kept hidden weapons. Once in the area and at the moment when parts corresponding to some weapons had already been found, with the help of two workers from the settlement, who after that task were forced to leave the excavation site, the victim, in his discouragement at not finding the weapons and intimidated by his guards, made the decision to escape, and at the moment he attempted to do so, the Carabineros officer Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz decided to prevent it and fired a lethal shot at close range into the abdominal region, causing multiple ruptures to the intestinal area with the impact, as recorded in his death certificate at the Civil Registry Service."

Source: adprensa.cl, August 22, 2019

Supreme Court sentences retired Carabineros officer for homicide of a peasant in the commune of Palmilla in 1973

The Second Chamber of the highest court sentenced Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz to 5 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release for the same period, as the perpetrator of the crime, after establishing that the second-instance sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals did not justify why it applied a 4-year prison sentence to the convicted man.

The Supreme Court invalidated the challenged resolution ex officio and, in a replacement sentence, reinstated the first-instance ruling that sentenced the retired Carabineros officer for his responsibility in the crime of qualified homicide of the peasant Manuel Antonio López López.

The crime was committed in October 1973 in the commune of Palmilla. In a split decision (case file 28.214-2019), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, lawyer (i) Pía Tavolari, and lawyer (i) Gonzalo Ruz—sentenced Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz to 5 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release for the same period, as the perpetrator of the crime, after establishing that the second-instance sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals did not justify why it applied a 4-year prison sentence to the convicted man. "That, despite the rejection of the cassation appeals, both in form and substance, during the deliberation stage, it was noted that the second-instance sentence confirmed the first-instance one, with the declaration that the corporal punishment imposed on the sentenced Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz is reduced to four years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, given the two recognized mitigating circumstances and justifying its decision on Article 69 of the penal code," the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: "That, however, for the purposes of regulating the penalty to be applied, the second-instance judges do not express the reasons why the penalty was set at four years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree, and not at another quantum, which allows for the establishment that the ruling, on this point, lacks the reasons for the determination of the imposed penalty regarding the extent of the harm caused." "That, in accordance with Article 775 of the Code of Civil Procedure, applicable in this case in accordance with the provisions of Article 535 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this court, knowing by way of cassation, may invalidate the sentence ex officio when the background of the appeal shows that it suffers from defects that give rise to cassation in form, a matter that was possible to notice only during the deliberation stage as already indicated, so this Court, ex officio, will proceed to annul the second-instance ruling, subsequently issuing the replacement sentence that conforms to the law and the facts of the case," it concludes. Decision reached with the dissenting votes of ministers Brito and Dahm, who were in favor of fully confirming the first-instance ruling. In the base ruling, the extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases, Mario Carroza, established the following facts: " 1st.- That on October 13, 1973, the citizen Manuel Antonio López López, a 42-year-old peasant, was detained without a legal or administrative order inside the Carabineros station of the town known as El Huique in the VI Region, and around 10:00 hours he was taken by Carabineros officers Moisés Valencia Ibacache and Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz to the Pupilla settlement, in the commune of Palmilla, located near Santa Cruz, where the detainee had allegedly stated that he kept hidden weapons. 2nd.- That once in the area and at the moment when parts corresponding to some weapons had already been found, with the help of two workers from the settlement, who after that task were forced to leave the excavation site, the victim, in his discouragement at not finding the weapons and intimidated by his armed guards, made the decision to escape, and at the moment he attempted to do so, the Carabineros officer Héctor Eduardo Baeza Muñoz decided to prevent it and fired a lethal shot at close range into the abdominal region, causing multiple ruptures to the intestinal area with the impact, as recorded in his death certificate at the Civil Registry and Identification Service ".

Source: pdju.cl, March 17, 2023