In the resolution (case file 1-2015), Minister Aldana Fuentes indicted Juan José Francisco Belenguer González, who served as the duty officer in charge of the guard and internal regime at the Los Ángeles Regiment. Given the penalty assigned to the crime and the rank of the indicted officer, Minister Aldana ordered the pretrial detention of Belenguer González.

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases for the Courts of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, issued an indictment against the retired Army captain for his responsibility as an accessory to the crime of simple homicide of student leader Jaime Franklin Vladimir Araya Palominos. The crime was perpetrated in September 1973.

In the resolution (case file 1-2015), Minister Aldana Fuentes indicted Juan José Francisco Belenguer González, who served as the duty officer in charge of the guard and internal regime at the Los Ángeles Regiment. Given the penalty assigned to the crime and the rank of the indicted officer, Minister Aldana ordered the pretrial detention of Belenguer González.

During the investigation stage of the case, the visiting minister gathered sufficient evidence to establish the following facts:

“a) That Jaime Franklin Vladimir Araya Palominos, a university leader and member of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (M.I.R.), residing in Los Ángeles, was sought on September 11, 1973, by the military authorities of the time, upon which he left his home and sought refuge in the houses of various friends, eventually arriving at the home of Luis Valenzuela, on Calle Baquedano in the city of Los Ángeles, from where he was detained on September 18, 1973, along with other people, by a patrol composed of military personnel and civilians, who acted without a competent judicial or administrative order, and was taken to the Mountain Regiment of the same city, where he was subjected to various acts of torture and interrogation.

b) That around noon on September 21, 1973, as previously planned by the Military Intelligence Service, he was taken from the torture room by members of said military unit and led to the “Picadero” sector, located inside the Regiment, where he was executed by shots fired by military personnel, without trial or any legal justification.

c) Subsequently, his body was illegally buried in an unknown location, without any legal formality, and following requests from family members claiming his body, days later it was exhumed by military personnel and the remains were delivered to his parents in a sealed casket, with the demand that it be buried immediately.”

Regarding the actions of the accused, Minister Aldana’s resolution details that: “insofar as (Belenguer González) became aware of the commission of a crime, as the captain in charge of the sector where the event occurred, and upon realizing that there was no possibility of escape for the victim, he kept the military personnel who had allegedly fired the shots in custody, and after informing his Regiment Commander, the latter ordered him to continue with his duties; however, it is inexplicable that he does not remember their names, limiting himself to making inquiries and providing a series of details to the proceedings which, due to their confusing and useless nature, appear more like collaboration in the cover-up of those responsible.”

In the case, Minister Aldana Fuentes ordered that “Once this resolution is final, a mental examination shall be performed on the accused Belenguer González in accordance with the provisions of Article 349 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and a pre-sentencing report shall be prepared in accordance with Article 15, letter c) of Law 18.216.

Official notice shall be sent to the Legal Medical Service and the Social Reintegration Center of the Gendarmería de Chile, respectively, corresponding to the defendant’s place of residence.”

Source: pjud.cl, September 29, 2023