The resolution by Judge Alejandro Madrid, spanning approximately 400 pages, will affect two active-duty intelligence non-commissioned officers, three retired generals—including former prosecutor Fernando Torres—and three Uruguayan colonels, two of whom are still in the Army.

Judge Alejandro Madrid is close to issuing the first-instance sentence for the crime against DINA chemist Eugenio Berríos Sagredo, which occurred in 1995 in Uruguay. The ruling is nearly 400 pages long, the product of one of the most extensive and in-depth police and judicial investigations.

The resolution provides a detailed account of how the Army at the time operated to obstruct justice shortly after democracy was restored, from the Commander-in-Chief and high-command generals to the general audit office, including agents reassigned from the dissolved CNI, the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), and its operational arm, the Intelligence Battalion (BIE).

Of the 19 individuals prosecuted and formally accused, including the three Uruguayan colonels—two of whom are still on active duty—it has transpired that the vast majority will receive effective prison sentences, although a couple could benefit from sentences of five years and one day with supervised release.

Two of those expected to receive guaranteed effective prison sentences are still on active duty in the Army, performing intelligence tasks. These are DINE non-commissioned officers and former CNI agents, Marcelo Sandoval Durán and Nelson Román Vargas.

Both are accused as perpetrators of kidnapping, illicit association, and omission of justice regarding the activities of an illicit association. Both operated as guards for Berríos while he was held captive in Montevideo.

Torres Silva. Among those who would also receive an effective prison sentence is retired general and former military prosecutor Fernando Torres Silva, accused as the perpetrator of an illicit association that committed crimes. Consequently, his sentence of major imprisonment would range from five years and one day to 20 years.

THE LIST OF THE 19 ACCUSED

1.- Arturo Silva Valdés (retired lieutenant colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping with homicide and perpetrator of illicit association) 2.- Eugenio Covarrubias Valenzuela (retired general) (accessory to kidnapping with homicide, perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of obstruction of justice) 3.- Hernán Ramírez Rurange (retired general) (perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of obstruction of justice) 4.- Manuel Jorge Provis Carrasco (retired brigadier) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 5.- Pablo Rodríguez Márquez (retired lieutenant colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of obstruction of justice) 6.- Jaime Fernando Torres Gacitúa (retired major) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 7.- Raúl Lillo Gutiérrez (retired lieutenant) (perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of obstruction of justice) 8.- Manuel Antonio Pérez Santillán (retired colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 9.- Tomás Casella Santos (Uruguayan colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 10.- Eduardo Radaelli Copilla (active-duty Uruguayan colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 11.- Wellington Sarli Pose (active-duty Uruguayan colonel) (perpetrator of kidnapping and perpetrator of illicit association) 12.- Marcelo Sandoval Durán (active-duty non-commissioned officer) (perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of omission of activities of members of an illicit association) 13.- Nelson Román Vargas (active-duty non-commissioned officer) (perpetrator of kidnapping, perpetrator of illicit association, and perpetrator of omission of activities of members of an illicit association) 14.- Enrique Gabriel Arturo Ibarra Chamorro (retired colonel) (perpetrator of illicit association) 15.- Mario Enrique Cisternas Orellana (retired lieutenant colonel) (perpetrator of omission of activities of members of an illicit association) 16.- Nelson Hernández Franco (retired non-commissioned officer) (perpetrator of omission of activities of members of an illicit association) 17.- Erika del Carmen Silva Morales (Army civilian) (perpetrator of omission of activities of members of an illicit association) 18.- Ginez Emilio Rojas Gómez (civilian) (perpetrator of obstruction of justice) 19.- Juan Fernando Alfredo Torres Silva (retired general) (perpetrator of illicit association)

Source: La Nación, Monday, August 9, 2010