Judge Carlos Aldana acquits civilians due to lack of participation in 1973 Puente Niblinto homicide.

The visiting judge acquitted the accused civilians after establishing that there is no evidence to prove they had culpable participation in the commission of the crime. The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases in the jurisdictions of Concepción and Chillán, Carlos Aldana Fuentes, decreed the acquittal of Fernando Humberto Villegas Romero and Manuel Gustavo Aguilar Soto regarding responsibility for the crime of qualified homicide of Fernando Carrasco Pereira.

The crime was perpetrated in September 1973, in the commune of Coihueco. The visiting judge acquitted the accused civilians after establishing that there is no evidence to prove they had culpable participation in the commission of the crime.

The ruling maintains that in this normative context, the accused Fernando Humberto Villegas Romero, in his statements on pages 414, 509, 1,448, and 1,475 of these records, has consistently and permanently maintained that although he had a weapon on the day of the events that had been given to him by Bustos Hoffman, he never fired it because it had a faulty firing pin that prevented it from being used.

In other words, he denies having fired at the victim and, consequently, as his defense points out, he bears no responsibility for the events subject to the accusation. Therefore, to be convicted, it is necessary to prove his culpable participation.

The resolution adds that in relation to Manuel Gustavo Aguilar Soto, there is no objective evidence to support that he had a weapon on the day of the events, and even less, obviously, that he had fired at the victim.

The accused, in his statements on pages 519 and 1450, acknowledges that he was at the scene on the day the events occurred, but that he then fled and returned hours later to the police station, that he was never given a weapon, that he does not know how to handle one, and that during the time he was at the station, he limited himself to monitoring the Carabineros radio.

The ruling further indicates that from the facts established in this case, it is only possible to conclude that the victim died as a result of several ballistic impacts fired from different locations, one or more of which were caused by the Carabineros chief of the Niblinto station, Miguel Bustos Hoffman (currently deceased), who repeatedly acknowledged that he fired at the bus driver with an institutional carbine.

Likewise, there are several witnesses who assert that José Muñoz Peña (currently deceased) fired from the other side on several occasions, as stated by Villegas Romero in his statement on page 1448 and in the confrontation on page 592; Bustos Hoffman on pages 63, 167, 103 verso, 327, and 434 of the case file reviewed, and pages 457, 980, and 1,003 of this process, which is consistent with the entry of the projectiles into the victim's body as described in the integrated medical expert report.

Furthermore, it is established that José Jara Donoso (currently deceased) arrived at the scene when the victim was wounded but lucid and conscious, and given his rank as a Carabineros captain, he took charge of the procedure, and consequently, the wounded man remained under his care and responsibility.

During the investigation stage of the case, Judge Aldana was able to establish that on September 14, 1973, a group of about 14 people, left-wing militants, decided to cross the mountainous sector of Minas del Prado in the commune of Coihueco, Ñuble Province (now the region of the same name), with the goal of reaching Argentina, traveling by bus.

When they crossed the "Niblinto" bridge, they were ambushed by Carabineros from that police unit, who fired and struck the driver of the vehicle, Fernando Carrasco Pereira, with a shot. Despite being wounded, he opened the door of the vehicle so that his companions could get out without being hit by the gunfire, and he was left on the vehicle's step by witness Jorge Vera González, subsequently dying as a result of the injuries caused by the projectiles.

Source: pjud.cl, November 20, 2019