In a split decision, the Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced nine retired military officers for the crime of illegal exhumation in the case known as "Retiro de Televisores" (Removal of Televisions), in which the bodies of victims of the dictatorship were unearthed to make them disappear permanently.

The ruling, adopted by judges Cornelio Villarroel, Mario Carroza, and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún, sets a sentence of 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, in addition to a fine of 14 UTM (Monthly Tax Units), for Hernán Ricardo Canales Varas, José Jaime Darrigrandi Márquez, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, José Nelson Canario Santibáñez, Luis Antonio Fuenzalida Rojas, Darío Ernesto Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Remigio Burgos Díaz, Sergio Antonio Medina Salazar, and Isidoro Custodio Durán Muñoz.

As detailed in the resolution, the bodies unearthed from the Peldehue military facility were those of individuals detained at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, who were then taken to the Regimiento Tacna and later executed by firing squad at the Peldehue military facility, in the commune of Colina.

The ruling maintains that "in accordance with the accusation formulated against the defendants, it is necessary to analyze whether the crime of illegal exhumation, given the manner of its commission and the participation of public agents in it, can be classified as a common act within the criminal perspective; or if, due to its characteristics, it can be classified as a crime against humanity, insofar as the removal action constituted the last link in a chain that began with the detention of a group of people at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, of whom those belonging to the Security Detail and Advisors to the Presidency of the Republic were tied by their hands and feet with wire, loaded onto a military truck, and transported to the Peldehue military fiscal facility. They were then allegedly executed by firing squad by State agents consisting of Officers and Permanent Staff, and finally buried in a dry well into which they were thrown or fell as they were executed, considering that the removal carried out more than five years after said kidnapping and alleged execution constituted the final phase intended to achieve the concealment of the facts." It adds that to establish that the crimes are crimes against humanity, the majority vote of the judges states that "having analyzed such background, it appears unequivocally that the described conduct makes evident reference to a link within the chain that formed part of the systematic and generalized attack against members of the civilian population, in accordance with the plan implemented by the military authority that held power, directed essentially at causing fear through the kidnapping or disappearance of persons, conduct carried out by State agents provided with all the power that the de facto situation provided them." It further adds that "this Court considers that we are facing a crime against humanity, as it offends the most intimate feelings of the human being, such as granting their next of kin the right to a Christian burial or a burial worthy of their status as a person, and that for this reason, it contradicts the general principles of law and becomes a concern of the international community."

Source: La Nación, June 11, 2008

Supreme Court sentences nine former uniformed personnel for Operation Retiro de Televisores

"In the case of crimes against humanity, the imprescriptibility of these illicit acts, which gravely offend fundamental human rights, arises as a barrier to impunity," states the ruling of the Supreme Court that confirmed the conviction against three former officers and six Army non-commissioned officers who illegally exhumed the bodies of those detained on September 11, 1973, at La Moneda.

After their arrest, the victims were transferred to the Regimiento Tacna and subsequently executed by firing squad at a military facility in Peldehue, where their remains were buried. Five years later, in December 1978, the convicted individuals made the bodies disappear in the operation called Retiro de Televisores.

The ruling of the highest court thus ratified, by three votes to two, the decision of the Santiago Court of Appeals, which in 2008 imposed 270 days of imprisonment on the former uniformed personnel for their responsibility in the events and granted them conditional remission of the sentence.

The convicted are Colonel (R) Hernán Canales Varas (commander of the Regimiento Tacna in 1978), retired Brigadier José Darrigrandi Marques (commander of the Army Aviation Command in 1978), Colonel (R) Luis Fuenzalida Rojas (Head of Intelligence at the Tacna in 1978), and retired non-commissioned officers Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo, José Canario Santibáñez, Darío Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Burgos Díaz, Sergio Medina Salazar, and Isidro Durán Muñoz.

The majority vote came from judges Jaime Rodríguez, Hugo Dolmestch, and Carlos Künsmüller, while their peers Nibaldo Segura and Rubén Ballesteros were in favor of accepting the statute of limitations for the criminal action. Likewise, the judges decided to dismiss the plaintiffs' lawsuit against the State. "The statute of limitations (for civil action) has expired," the ruling notes.

Source: La Nación, Friday, August 14, 2009

Court of Appeals sentences nine former Army members for illegal exhumation

The sentence entails 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree and the payment of a fine of 14 Monthly Tax Units (UTM). The Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, in a split decision, sentenced nine former members of the Army for the crime of illegal exhumation of persons who appear on the lists of the forcibly disappeared, and whose bodies were unearthed—in December 1978—from a pit at the Peldehue military camp, in the commune of Colina, during the investigation into the so-called "Retiro de Televisores" case.

Judges Cornelio Villarroel Ramírez, Mario Carroza Espinoza, and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún Comandari determined the sentence of 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree and the payment of a fine of 14 Monthly Tax Units (UTM) for Hernán Ricardo Canales Varas, José Jaime Darrigrandi Márquez, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, José Nelson Canario Santibáñez, Luis Antonio Fuenzalida Rojas, Darío Ernesto Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Remigio Burgos Díaz, Sergio Antonio Medina Salazar, and Isidoro Custodio Durán Muñoz.

The unearthed bodies correspond to those detained at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, who were taken to the Regimiento Tacna and later executed by firing squad at the Peldehue military facility, in the commune of Colina.

Judge Carroza and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún were of the opinion to revoke the first-instance sentence, dated January 31, 2007, which had acquitted Canales Varas and Darrigrandi Márquez due to lack of participation, and to accept the statute of limitations exception for the other 7 convicted individuals, considering that the crime is a crime against humanity and, therefore, imprescriptible.

Source: Emol.com, June 11, 2008