The minister for extraordinary cases of human rights violations for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, has sentenced 20 members of the Air Force, the Army, and civilians for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, and the application of illegitimate duress against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Painemal Alegría, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza.

These illicit acts were committed starting in September 1973 at the Maquehue Air Base, the "Tucapel" Regiment No. 8, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco.

Meanwhile, Luis Quezada Chandía must serve 17 years in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified homicides of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and Alfonso Podlech Michaud must serve 12 years in prison as the perpetrator of the qualified homicide of Henríquez Aravena.

In the case of Pablo Alister Contreras, the visiting minister sentenced him to 4 years in prison as an accessory to the homicides of Henríquez Aravena and Flores Rivera, and as an accomplice to the crime of illegitimate duress against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza.

Finally, Jaime Echenique Seco, Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Aníbal Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Montserrats Mena, Roberto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Pérez Chávez, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella must serve 3 years and one day in prison as accessories to the homicides and illegitimate duress.

In the investigation that Minister Mesa Latorre has been conducting since July 2010, he established the collaboration between the Maquehue Air Base, the "Tucapel" Regiment No. 8, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco to commit various crimes against humanity, including: qualified kidnapping, qualified homicide, simple homicide, and illegitimate duress against opponents of the military government of the time.

The ruling establishes the following facts:

A.- That immediately following the military coup on September 11, 1973, the Commander of Helicopter Group No. 3 of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (deceased), delegated the operational command of the base to the second-in-command, Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), in order to assume duties at the CAJSI (Command for Jurisdictional Action regarding Internal Situations), whose office was located at the "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment No. 8 in the city of Temuco.

However, he never formally relinquished command of the aforementioned unit, attending that location daily to determine the actions to be followed.

B.- That starting on that same day, the new local authority called several Air Force Reserve officers, who were civilian pilots, to active duty, including Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, and Emilio Sandoval Poo; and other retired officers who joined the Maquehue Base contingent and who, according to their rank, began to fulfill the same operational functions as the rest of the line officers and non-commissioned officers, at least during the most critical period of September and October 1973.

These functions included joining patrols tasked with enforcing the curfew, guarding public service facilities and bridges, participating in operations of varying magnitude aimed at raiding homes and detaining individuals opposed to the new regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, crewing helicopters to transport detainees from one point of the region to another, crewing private light aircraft to monitor the coastal area, and performing rounds or guard duty officer shifts inside the air base.

These shifts could last between 12 and 24 hours. It should be noted that a large number of Air Force reserve officers were also appointed as overseers in various state-owned companies, meaning they had to balance both activities during the aforementioned period without ceasing to fulfill these tasks, as each branch of the armed forces and security forces present in the city designated an overseer per company, ensuring that activities in the overseen companies were always well-covered.

C.- That due to the need to systematize and coordinate activities aimed at the detention of individuals and their transfer to the Maquehue air base for subsequent interrogation, the Second-in-Command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased) organized a specially selected group to handle intelligence matters and political detainees.

This group was under his command and included Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), several permanent staff members of various ranks including, among others, Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and a civilian employee with nursing specialization named Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco.

Starting on that date, this group gradually stopped performing the functions proper to their specialty to focus on the tasks assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base.

D.- That this special group received the alternating and sporadic collaboration of line and reserve officers who, sua sponte or by express order, joined in some instances the patrols intended to raid homes and detain individuals, or witnessed and collaborated in the interrogations of detainees held inside the base, including Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella, and Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco. The individuals detained in the various operations were kept in the guardhouse, the infirmary, two offices located in the Administrative or Command building, an old wooden tower previously used to store unused material—which was repurposed for the aforementioned purposes after September 11—and, on occasion, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base.

E.- That many of these detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the officers and non-commissioned officers mentioned above who formed part of the intelligence group specifically formed for such purposes, including Second-in-Command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), non-commissioned officers Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. The latter, in certain cases, administered drugs to the detainees, such as Pentothal, to force them to confess to their alleged crimes. Also during that time, the detainees were taken out to the unit's courtyard during the day to rest slightly or were taken to the existing bathrooms in the unit, at which time they were seen and attended to by conscript soldiers who were able to verify the deteriorated physical state in which these individuals were found. Some of these conscripts had to perform sentry duties to guard the place where the detainees were held.

F.- That the aerial operations carried out by helicopter sometimes consisted of transporting army troops to locations in the IX Region whose mission was to detain individuals opposed to the military regime.

These individuals were transported to the Maquehue Air Base and also to the "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment No. 8 of this city, with the aircraft landing at both units, as the case may be. Similarly, detainees were transported by land from the Maquehue air base to the Tucapel regiment, a task carried out by members of the special group described above and, on occasion, by reserve officers who received an order to that effect.

G.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the lawyer Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also an Army Reserve Lieutenant, was called to collaborate with the new regime. He presented himself at the "Tucapel" regiment to support the work of the Military Prosecutor's Office, which operated inside the unit and was headed by the Second-in-Command, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased).

This officer, however, had to assume greater duties as Second-in-Command of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began arriving at the regiment who had been called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different parts of the region by Carabineros and military patrols.

H.- That given the high number of detainees and individuals called to provide statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with Judiciary officials requested from the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco by the aforementioned lawyer, who, acting as ad hoc Prosecutor, made a presentation to the Plenary of the Appellate Court, after which some clerks from different courts and a Court Rapporteur were assigned on service commission.

I.- That due to a lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, combined with his weak character and his work as Second-in-Command of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased) began delegating functions as Military Prosecutor to the legal advisor of the Prosecutor's Office, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who began to hold the position of de facto Prosecutor, to the point that he conducted prison visits and lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him regarding the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto (deceased) continued to sign the administrative paperwork most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

J.- That the individuals called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office and those brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse and in the large gymnasium. Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities, some were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

K.- That also by September 1973, at the "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment No. 8 in Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased), under whose command some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed duties.

This work was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigative Police and Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer regarding all those individuals subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, some officers, enlisted personnel, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks.

L.- That as the days passed, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work jointly to interrogate the detainees who remained held in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters Company and the Mortar Company, and another in an old, disused gymnasium located to the side of the conscript soldiers' "mess hall." In this way, detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically pressured in one of the aforementioned facilities to "soften them up" before or after these interrogations.

M.- That in both interrogation and torture rooms, there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of their bodies, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches.

Conscript soldiers and a Carabinero participated in this task, collaborating with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and the detectives of the Investigative Police who were there. Most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some enlisted soldiers from the Headquarters and Services, Mortar, and Hunter companies, as well as the Second Section, also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times."

In the civil aspect, the state was ordered to pay a total compensation of $910,000,000 to the family members of the deceased victims and to the survivors.

This is the 40th sentence issued by Minister Mesa Latorre since he was appointed to investigate human rights violation cases; of these, 24 are final, with 130 individuals convicted.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, January 6, 2020

Temuco Court sentences 18 military personnel and 2 civilians for crimes and torture at Maquehue Air Base in 1973

The Temuco Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence convicting 20 retired military personnel and civilians for their responsibility in the qualified homicides of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, and the illegal coercion against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza.

These events occurred between September and October 1973 at the Maquehue Air Base in Temuco. The first-instance ruling had been issued in January 2020 by the Minister for Extraordinary Causes for Human Rights, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, who holds jurisdiction in the Courts of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique.

In the sentence (case file 396-2020), the First Chamber of the Temuco appellate court confirmed the conviction of former Air Force officers Leonardo Reyes Herrera and Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and former non-commissioned officers of the same institution Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva; all were sentenced to 20 years in prison for their responsibility as perpetrators of the crimes.

Meanwhile, civilian Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía must serve a 17-year prison sentence for his responsibility as a perpetrator of the homicides of Henríquez Aravena and Flores Rivera.

Similarly, civilian lawyer and former Military Prosecutor Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his responsibility as a perpetrator of the homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena.

Meanwhile, former Air Force officer Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras will serve a 4-year prison sentence as an accessory to the homicides and an accomplice to the illegal coercion; and former FACh officers Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Montserrats Mena, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, and Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison as accessories to the crimes.

The convicted individuals Alister Contreras, Echenique Seco, Tejos Echeverría, Isaacs Casacuberta, Monserrats Mena, and Pérez Chávez were granted the benefit of serving their sentences under the "intensive supervised release" regime, a blatant way of granting them impunity.

The Temuco Court shared the arguments presented in the first-instance ruling by the Minister for Human Rights causes, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, but dissented regarding the benefits granted to those convicted as accomplices and accessories, determining that they meet the requirements to access the benefit.

Court Resolution

Regarding the other former officers sentenced to three years and one day, the Court's resolution states:

« The situation of the convicted individuals Víctor Volante Leonardi, Rodolfo Schmied Callejón, Berthold Bohn Sauterel, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella is different, for although they have not been previously convicted of a crime or misdemeanor and the custodial sentence to be imposed does not exceed five years in duration, there are reports in the case file prepared by the Gendarmería de Chile, which conclude that supervised release is not recommended for any of them, expressing the reasons that support said conclusion.

Although such reports are not binding, they provide a series of facts that cannot be ignored by this Court, considering the nature and gravity of the investigated events and their character as crimes against humanity. »

In this sense, during the investigation stage of the case, Minister Mesa managed to prove the following facts:

« That after September 11, 1973, at the Maquehue Air Base, a group of members of the Chilean Air Force was established, to which reserve officers of the institution were also invited, and who detained opponents of the military regime to then take them to the facility where they remained detained and were subjected to illegal coercion.

In parallel, various judicial proceedings were carried out at the Military Prosecutor's Office against the detainees, who were subjected to illegal coercion and other inhuman, cruel, or degrading treatment. »

Regarding the qualified homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, Minister Mesa established, among others, the following considerations:

« That Hernán Henríquez Aravena, Surgeon and Zonal Director of Health of Temuco as of September 1973, was summoned by the military authority of the time to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office of this city, located inside the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment. On September 12, 1973, Henríquez appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home. »

« That on the night of September 12 or 13, 1973, Carabineros from the 2nd Precinct of Temuco raided the home of Hernán Henríquez Aravena, took him out, and transferred him to the aforementioned unit. He spent the night there, being seen by several witnesses who have testified to that effect in the case.

The following day, he was again placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, where his transfer to the city's jail was ordered, and subsequently, his total house arrest was ordered, with the express order to appear first thing on September 25, 1973, at the military tribunal (...). »

« That on the night of September 24, 1973, the house of Hernán Henríquez Aravena was raided again, this time by personnel of the Investigative Police who were attached to the Tucapel regiment and who worked interchangeably for the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section.

After a while, the patrol left the scene. However, later another patrol appeared, this time from the 2nd Precinct of Carabineros, who took Doctor Hernán Henríquez from his home, taking him away without giving any explanation to his wife. »

« That as has been proven in the case, Hernán Henríquez Aravena was at the time of his detention under the precautionary measure of total house arrest, issued by the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, without there being any record in the case that both the Military Prosecutor's Office and its advising lawyer, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud (who acted as ad-hoc Prosecutor and de facto), had carried out the factual or legal actions to account for a person who was procedurally at their disposal.

In any case, there is no record of the military file under which Henríquez Aravena was being investigated, as noted in the action on page 86, which further aggravates the impact on his deprivation of liberty. »

« That Alejandro Flores Rivera, Nursing Assistant in the Psychiatry Department of the Regional Hospital of Temuco and President of the National Federation of Health Workers (Fenats), was summoned through Edict No. 11 dated September 12, 1973, to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office of this city, located inside the No. 8 "Tucapel" Infantry Regiment.

That day, Flores appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home. »

« That on October 5, 1973, the local authority issued Edict No. 9, which was signed by the Commander of the Temuco Military Garrison, which in point No. 2 informed the community that "Due to the attempted escape planned by ALEJANDRO FLORES RIVERA and in complicity with HERNÁN HENRÍQUEZ ARAVENA while they were detained in the barracks of Helicopter Group No. 3, and in collusion with individuals from the outside who tried to help them, they were eliminated by the Guard.

The other subjects fled the scene without other casualties. These extremist elements were buried." Said Edict was published in the newspaper "El Austral" of Temuco, whose daily circulation was previously reviewed by the Maquehue Air Base Flight Captain, Manuel Volante Leonardi, who was an aide to Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas and, in addition, in charge of Public Relations in the Cautín Intendancy. »

Source: resumen.cl, December 22, 2020

Supreme Court convicts retired military and civilians for homicides and illegal coercion at Temuco air base

The Second Chamber of the highest court confirmed the sentence that convicted Crisóstomo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Soto Herrera, Luis Yáñez Silva, Luis Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera to 20 years in prison, as perpetrators of the crimes.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals for cassation in form and substance filed against the sentence that convicted retired military personnel and civilian staff who served at the time of the events at the Maquehue Air Base in Temuco, for their responsibility in the crimes of qualified homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and the illegal coercion applied to Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza.

These illicit acts were committed between September and October 1973 at the FACh facility.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 14.483-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jean Pierre Matus, minister María Cristina Gajardo, and lawyers (i) Eduardo Morales and Ricardo Abuauad—confirmed the sentence that convicted Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera to 20 years in prison, as perpetrators of the crimes.

Meanwhile, Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía was sentenced to 17 years in prison as a perpetrator of the two qualified homicides, and Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud to 12 years in prison as a perpetrator of the qualified homicide of Henríquez Aravena.

In the case of Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, he was imposed a 4-year prison sentence as an accomplice to simple homicide and an accessory to illegal coercion.

Finally, Jaime Mauricio Echenique Seco, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, and Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility as accessories to the crimes.

In the case, the highest court, acting ex officio, substituted the 3-year and one-day prison sentences imposed on Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella with intensive supervised release for the same period, as accessories to the crimes.

The decision to substitute the custodial sentences with intensive supervised release ex officio was agreed upon with the dissenting vote of Minister Matus.

"That the appeal for cassation in substance proposed by the defense of the convicted Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud is based, firstly, on the cause contained in No. 7 of Article 546 of the penal procedural compendium, referring as infringed Articles 451 to 488 of the same legal body; the rules on ordinary procedure of greater amount, by application of Article 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure and Article 43 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in particular regarding Articles 1698, 1712, and 1713 of the Civil Code; 486 and 488 of the procedural code, regarding presumptions; and also denouncing an infringement of Articles 15, No. 1 and 14, No. 1 of the Penal Code, 498 to 509 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 391, No. 1 of the Penal Code, alleging, fundamentally, that evidence was valued against the law, committing an abuse by confusing the circumstances that the law allows to be proven through witnesses, which in the appellant's view cannot serve to prove participation, or through the abusive configuration of presumptions that would not be based on real and proven facts, nor would they be multiple, serious, precise, and concordant," the ruling states.

The resolution adds: "As a second cause, the appeal invokes Article 546, No. 2 of the procedural code, as an incorrect qualification was given to the crime and, consequently, a penalty was applied in accordance with said erroneous qualification, thereby violating Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Law 20.357, also violating Article 18 of the Penal Code, 19, No. 3 of the Fundamental Charter, in relation to Articles 391, No. 1 and Articles 93 and 94, all of the Penal Code, since, in his view, a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population had not been proven, nor would there be any evidence that the defendants had conspired to carry out the imputed homicide, whose qualification as an imprescriptible crime against humanity would imply a retroactive application of Law 20.357 and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in violation of Article 18 of the punitive code."

"As a third cause, the appeal is based on the one contained in Article 546, No. 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, considering that the sentencer erred by not considering the special mitigating circumstance of partial prescription, imposing on the act a penalty higher than that provided for by law, thereby depriving him of the possibility of obtaining any substitute penalty, which, in his opinion, would also constitute the cause provided for in Article 546, No. 1 of the procedural code, for violation of Articles 62, 65 to 69, 93, 94, 103, and 391, No. 1 of the Penal Code and Law 18.216 modified by Law 20.603," it adds.

"Regarding the civil aspects of the sentence—it continues—it invokes as a cause for substantial cassation the one contained in Article 546, final paragraph of the Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to the infringement of Article 41 of the same legal body and 2322 of the Civil Code, in relation to the rules of Articles 1437, 2492, 2497, 2514; and 19 and 22, first paragraph, all of the same legal body, by declaring the civil actions followed against him imprescriptible; and also that contained in Article 546, final paragraph of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that is, the false application of International Human Rights Law norms, which, in his view, do not provide for the imprescriptibility of patrimonial actions, in contravention also of Articles 2332 and 2497 of the Civil Code."

"That this substantial remedy cannot prosper either, as it is built on mutually incompatible premises, since it requests that this Court invalidate the appealed sentence and issue a replacement one that acquits him both criminally and civilly because his participation in the imputed act was not proven and because his responsibility in that same act is prescribed; and that it declare that he has no responsibility and should be acquitted, but that he is favored by a special mitigating circumstance that is only applicable to those who are responsible," the ruling affirms.

For the country's highest court: "Stated in this way, the appeal becomes ambiguous, which conspires against its nature as a strict law, whose purpose is none other than to fix the correct scope, meaning, and application of the laws, in terms that it cannot be admitted that mutually incompatible, subsidiary, or alternative causes be poured into it, which leave it devoid of the necessary certainty in relation to the vices that support the allegations contained therein.

It is because of the way in which the appeal and its different chapters have been presented that it is not possible to enter into the merits of the matter."

Likewise, the ruling records: "That, for the same reasons expressed in the previous consideration, the substantial cassation remedy proposed by the defenses of Crisóstomo Ferrada, Enrique Rebolledo, Heriberto Pereira, Jorge Valdebenito, Jorge Soto, Luis Yáñez, Luis Soto, and Leonardo Reyes must also be rejected, since it is based on the causes of Article 546, No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, asking this Court to annul the appealed ruling because—without discussing the commission of the punishable act—there would be no evidence regarding the participation of the defendants in the punishable act; or because their participation would be as accessories and not as perpetrators; or because the punishable act in which they would have participated would not constitute a crime against humanity, would be repealed, would have a lesser penalty; or would be prescribed; or because, in any case, if they had participated in the punishable act, it would be appropriate to apply the special mitigating circumstance of gradual prescription and that, in any case, they be acquitted of civil liability, allegations whose manifest incompatibility makes it impossible for this Court to fix the applicable law without falling into the same contradictions that the attempted remedy incurs or, to avoid them, arbitrarily choosing one of them, thereby substituting the work of the appellant, which is forbidden for a court in general and for a cassation court in particular."

"The subsidiary nature with which some of these causes are interposed does not prevent the above, since such a form of presentation is not permitted in this class of appeals as it is expressly admitted by the second paragraph of Article 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in the case of the nullity remedy regulated therein," it highlights.

"That identical defects of interposition—it continues—suffer the appeals for cassation in substance deduced in favor of the convicted Jaime Echenique, Enrique Isaacs, Antonio Montserrat, and Rodolfo Schmied, which must also be rejected, since they simultaneously invoke as causes those contained in Article 546, No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 of the procedural code, requesting their acquittal for not having participated in the prosecuted events or because they would not constitute crimes against humanity, to conclude by recognizing that participation and that the ruling be annulled for not having been granted a substitute penalty, which is not possible not only because such a decision is not part of the final appealed sentence but, in addition, because of the optional nature that its granting has for the trial court."

Helicopter crew members

In the first-instance sentence, the Minister for Extraordinary Causes for Human Rights Violations of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, established the following facts:

"A.— That immediately after the military pronouncement on September 11, 1973, the commander of Helicopter Group No. 3 of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (deceased), delegated the operational command of the base to the second-in-command, Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), to be able to assume functions in the CAJSI (Command for Jurisdictional Action in Internal Situations), whose office was located in the No. 8 'Tucapel' Infantry Regiment of the city of Temuco.

However, he never formally left the command of the aforementioned unit, going daily to that place to determine the actions to follow.

B.— That starting that same day, the new local authority called several Air Force reserve officers to active duty, who were civilian pilots, including Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, and Emilio Sandoval Poo; and other retired officers who joined the Maquehue Base contingent and who, according to their rank, began to fulfill the same operational functions as the rest of the line officers and non-commissioned officers at least during the most critical period of September and October 1973.

These functions included integrating patrols destined to carry out curfew control, guarding public service facilities and bridges, participating in operations of different magnitudes whose purpose was to raid homes and carry out detentions of people opposed to the new regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, integrating helicopter crews with the purpose of transferring detainees from one point to another in the region, piloting private light aircraft with the object of monitoring the coastal zone, and carrying out rounds or guard officer shifts inside the air base.

These last shifts could have been between 12 to 24 hours. It should be noted that a large part of the Air Force reserve officers were also appointed as interveners in different state companies, so they had to reconcile both activities during the aforementioned period, without ceasing to fulfill these tasks, since each branch of the armed and order forces present in the city designated an intervener per company, so the activities in the intervened companies were always well covered.

C.— That given the need to systematize and coordinate the activities destined to the detention of people and their transfer to the Maquehue air base for their subsequent interrogation, the second-in-command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased) organized a specially selected group to deal with intelligence and political detainee issues, a group that was under his command and that included Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), several members of the permanent staff of different ranks, including among others Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and a civilian employee who had the nursing specialty named Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. This group, from that date on, gradually stopped fulfilling the functions proper to its specialty to devote itself to the tasks that were assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base.

D.— That this special group received the alternating and sporadic collaboration of line and reserve officers who, motu proprio or by an express order received, joined on some occasions the patrols destined to raid homes and detain people or witnessed and collaborated in the interrogations of the detainees who remained inside the base, among whom are Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella, and Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco. The people detained in the various operations were kept in the guard facilities, the infirmary, in two offices located in the Administrative or Command building, in an old wooden tower that was previously used to store unused material, and which after September 11 was enabled for the indicated purposes, and also on some occasions they were transferred to a hangar located inside the base.

E.— That many of these detainees remained confined at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the aforementioned officers and non-commissioned officers who were part of the intelligence group specially formed for such purposes, among whom are the second-in-command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), non-commissioned officers Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. The latter, in certain cases, supplied drugs to the detainees, such as pentothal, so that they would confess their supposed crimes. Also during that time, the detainees were taken out to the unit's patio during the day so they could rest a little or were transferred to the bathrooms existing in the unit, an opportunity in which they were seen and attended to by conscript soldiers who could verify the deteriorated physical state in which these people were. Some of these conscripts had to fulfill sentry tasks to guard the place where the detainees were.

F.— That the aerial operations carried out in helicopters on some occasions consisted of transferring Army troops to localities in the IX Region whose mission was to detain people opposed to the military regime.

These people were transferred to the Maquehue Air Base and also to the No. 8 'Tucapel' Infantry Regiment of this city, with the aircraft that transported them landing in both units, as the case may be.

In the same way, transfers of detainees were carried out by land from the Maquehue air base to the Tucapel regiment, which were carried out by members of the special group described above and also on some occasion by reserve officers who received an order for such purposes.

G.— That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the lawyer Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also a reserve lieutenant of the Chilean Army, was called to collaborate with the new regime, who appeared at the 'Tucapel' Regiment to support the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit and that was in charge of the second-in-command, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased).

This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as second-in-command of the Tucapel Regiment shortly after. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who were called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different parts of the region, by patrols of carabineros and military personnel.

H.— That given the high number of detainees and people called to give statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with officials of the Judiciary who were requested from the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco by the aforementioned lawyer, who acting as ad-hoc prosecutor made a presentation to the plenary of the appellate court, after which some clerks from different courts and a rapporteur of the Court were assigned in a service commission.

I.— That due to the lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters added to the weak character he had and the work as second-in-command of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased) was delegating functions as military prosecutor to the advising lawyer of the Prosecutor's Office, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who began to hold the position of de facto prosecutor, to the point that he carried out jail visits and that lawyers, family members, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him about the destination of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto (deceased) continued to sign the administrative paperwork most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

J.— That the people called to appear at the Military Prosecutor's Office and those who were brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guard and in the large gymnasium. Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by the detectives of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities, some of them were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

K.— That also by September 1973, in the No. 8 'Tucapel' Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there was the Second Information and Intelligence Section that was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also carried out functions, work that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigative Police and Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer of all those people subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. In the same way, some officers, non-commissioned officers, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks.

L.— That as the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work together to interrogate the detainees who remained confined in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel Regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters and Mortar companies and another in an old disused gymnasium that was located on the side of the conscript soldiers' 'mess'.

In this way, the detainees were taken and brought from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated in the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically coerced in one of the aforementioned facilities to 'soften them up' before or after these interrogations.

M.— That in both interrogation and torture rooms there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of the body, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches.

In this task, conscript soldiers and a carabinero participated who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and with the detectives of the Investigative Police who were there. Most of the officers of the 'Tucapel' Regiment and some non-commissioned officers from the Headquarters and Services, Mortar, Hunter companies, and the Second Section also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times."

Source: pjud.cl, March 6, 2024