Former military personnel convicted for deaths following the 1973 coup. Two of the five former military personnel were convicted for human rights violations.

The ruling was issued by the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Talca, following the arguments presented last March. In a unanimous ruling, the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Talca issued a conviction against two of the three former military personnel who were investigated for the deaths of three young men who were detained following the 1973 military coup, a case that was classified as a human rights violation.

The victims were the brothers, Luis Alberto and Domingo Antonio Urbina Díaz, along with José Antonio Méndez Valenzuela. According to the investigation, the three young men were detained in October 1973 by personnel from the Talca regiment.

There, the three detainees were beaten inside a swimming pool, where Luis Urbina died as a result of his severe injuries. Following this, Domingo Urbina and José Méndez—along with the body of Luis Urbina—were transported by a patrol to the El Culenar military property, where the first of the detainees was executed by firing squad and the second received a gunshot to the head by a conscript.

The three bodies were deposited in a ravine.

Absolution Revoked

The events were investigated by the visiting judge for human rights cases, Juana Venegas, who decreed the acquittal—based on the statute of limitations for criminal action—of Army Lieutenant Hernán Eduardo Véjar Sinning; as well as conscript Luis Alejandro Pizarro Aguiluz; and Army Lieutenant Eduardo Enrique Carvallo Delgado.

The ruling was appealed before the Court of Talca, where on March 11 the arguments were heard before the First Chamber, composed of ministers Víctor Stenger and Vicente Fodich, along with member lawyer Luis Carrasco.

The final judgment revoked the acquittal only regarding Pizarro and Véjar, deeming that the acts must be sanctioned under international human rights treaties. Thus, the following sentences were decreed: three years of imprisonment for Luis Pizarro for the homicide of Luis Urbina, with the benefit of supervised release; and four years of imprisonment for Lieutenant Hernán Véjar for the homicides of Domingo Urbina and José Méndez, as well as for the cover-up of the crime against Luis Urbina, a sentence he will serve under supervised release.

Source: diarioelcentro.cl, July 10, 2011