Miguel Krassnoff, Marcelo Moren Brito, and Raúl Iturriaga Neumann are among those implicated.

The minister for extraordinary causes regarding human rights violations at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Hernán Crisosto, sentenced 77 agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) this Monday for their responsibility in the kidnapping of Héctor Garay Hermosilla in 1974.

Garay Hermosilla, a member of the Revolutionary Student Front (FER), was 19 years old when he was detained near his home on July 8, 1974. Days later, his name appeared in the national press on a false list of 119 people killed due to alleged internal disputes within the MIR, in what was termed "Operation Colombo." According to the judge's findings, "the publications that declared the victim Garay Hermosilla dead had their origin in disinformation maneuvers carried out by DINA agents abroad."

According to the reconstruction of events carried out by the presiding minister, the DINA agents who captured Garay "forced him into the back of a gray Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck and took him to the home of a friend of the victim, who was also forced into the aforementioned truck, to be taken to an unknown destination."

"Subsequently, it was established, through testimonies, that Héctor Marcial Garay Hermosilla passed through the clandestine detention center known as 'Londres 38,' which was guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access," the ruling continues, establishing that to date, there is no further information regarding Garay's whereabouts.

The convicted In the resolution, the presiding minister sentenced the following to 13 years in prison: César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, as authors of the crime perpetrated in 1974.

Meanwhile, the following former agents must serve 10 years in prison, also as authors: Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Mario Friz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Gustavo Galvarino Caruman Soto, Hiro Álvarez Vega, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, Hugo Rubén Delgado Carrasco, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Leónidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rafael de Jesús Riveros Frost, Víctor Manuel Molina Astete, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, and Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle.

As accomplices to the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Garay Hermosilla, the presiding minister sentenced the following to 4 years in prison: Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Camilo Torres Negrier, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Luis René Torres Méndez, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortés, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Reinaldo Alfonso Concha Orellana, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Víctor Manuel de la Cruz San Martín Jiménez, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Héctor Manuel Lira Aravena, Víctor Manuel Álvarez Droguett, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, Juan Miguel Troncoso Soto, and Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel.

Meanwhile, Rodolfo Valentino Cocha Rodríguez and Armando Segundo Cofre Correa were acquitted due to a lack of participation in the events.

Source: t13.cl, August 31, 2015

Among the accused, all retired, are eight colonels and 23 army non-commissioned officers, 40 Carabineros officers and non-commissioned officers, two former FACH agents, one former Navy agent, and seven former Investigative Police agents.

The biggest blow to the repression of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship was dealt yesterday by Minister Víctor Montiglio, who prosecuted 98 former agents from different branches of the Armed Forces, Carabineros, and the Investigative Police for 42 victims of Operation Colombo.

This is the largest resolution issued among the nearly 400 cases of human rights violations currently being investigated in the country. It even surpassed the 67 former agents prosecuted by Judge Montiglio himself in 2007 for the crimes of the Lautaro Brigade and its Delfín Group at the Simón Bolívar barracks.

Among those accused for Colombo are eight Army colonels (Ret.), six of whom had not been prosecuted before in any case. Also declared defendants were 23 Army non-commissioned officers (Ret.), of whom at least 50 percent appear for the first time in such cases.

Among these non-commissioned officers is Juvenal Piña, alias "El Elefante," a former agent of the Lautaro Brigade, who was the one who suffocated the communist leader in hiding (1976) Víctor Díaz with a plastic bag over his head, prior to injecting him with cyanide.

In addition, the magistrate prosecuted 40 former Carabineros officers and non-commissioned officers, including Ricardo Lawrence, Heriberto Acevedo, Claudio Pacheco, and José Mora, all former members of the same Brigade.

Among those prosecuted are also former agents who belonged to the Investigative Police. The only civilian (Army) is Juan Suárez. Of the total list, at least thirteen are already serving sentences for other cases (see list).

As of the closing of this edition, the accused were still being detained to be interned in various locations, such as the Peñalolén Military Police Battalion. Among the 42 victims for whom the minister issued his resolution are María Angélica Andreolli, Miguel Acuña Castillo, Juan Carlos Perelmann Ide, Juan Chacón Olivares, Jorge Müller Silva, Luis Guendelmann Wisniak, Mario Calderón Tapia, and Carmen Bueno Cifuentes.

Operation Colombo and the media

The list of the 119 was published in the magazine Lea (Buenos Aires) and the newspaper O Dia (Brazil) in 1975; these reports were also false. Both publications were created by DINA agents. Operation Colombo was part of Operation Condor and consisted of a montage by the dictatorship to make the population believe that 119 detainees who were forcibly disappeared had clandestinely left for Argentina and died there in clashes with police and Army forces during the phase prior to the 1976 military coup in Argentina.

Some of those names appeared as militants "assassinated" in Buenos Aires and its surroundings, with signs on their bodies stating they had been executed by their own comrades as a settling of scores for internal disputes.

However, this also turned out to be a montage. The list of the 119 was published in the magazine Lea (Buenos Aires) and the newspaper O Dia (Brazil) in 1975; these reports were also false. Both publications were created by DINA agents abroad and had only one edition.

In Chile, the pro-dictatorship press, such as the newspapers El Mercurio, La Tercera, Las Ultimas Noticias, and La Segunda, reproduced the intelligence services' montage. The headline of the evening paper remains in memory: "Exterminated like rats: 59 Chilean MIR members fall in military operation in Argentina." They were part of the list of the 119 disappeared from Colombo.

The former fugitive Raúl Iturriaga, who was one of those in charge of the DINA's foreign department, was the first to shed light on this operation in Buenos Aires. According to former civilian agent Enrique Arancibia Clavel, convicted in Buenos Aires for the crime of General Carlos Prat and his wife, it was Iturriaga who met with him at the beginning of 1975 to ask him to prepare what was necessary because "we have to make some dead people from Operation Colombo appear." It was about preparing the appearance of the supposed bodies of Jaime Robotham and Luis Guendelmann as part of the montage.

List of prosecuted

Army (all retired)

Víctor Molina Astete (colonel); Sergio Castillo González (col); Eduardo Guerra Guajardo (col); Víctor San Martín Jiménez (col); José Fuentes Torres (col); Manuel Carevic Cubillos (col); Jaime Paris Ramos (col); César Manríquez Bravo (col); Raúl Toro Montes (non-commissioned officer); Eduardo Reyes Lagos (NCO); Orlando Torrejón Gatica (NCO); Osvaldo Tapia Alvarez (NCO; committed suicide); Juvenal Piña Garrido (NCO; "El Elefante"); Juan Suárez Delgado (civilian); Nelson Paz Bustamante (NCO); José Aravena Ruiz (NCO); Luis Torres Méndez (NCO); Raúl Soto Pérez (NCO); Jorge Andrade Gómez (NCO); Juan Escobar Valenzuela (NCO); Rolando Concha Rodríguez (NCO); Gustavo Apablaza Meneses (NCO); Hiro Alvarez Vega (NCO); Víctor Alvarez Droguett (NCO); Jorge Venegas Silva (NCO); Carlos Rinaldi Suazo (NCO); Carlos Letelier Verdugo (NCO); Reinaldo Concha Orellana (NCO); Máximo Aliaga Soto (NCO); Hugo Clavería Leiva (NCO); Samuel Fuenzalida Devia (NCO);

Investigative Police

Juan Urbina Cáceres; Hugo Hernández; Manuel Rivas Díaz; Herman Alfaro; Eugenio Fieldhouse; Osvaldo Castillo;

Carabineros (officers and non-commissioned officers, all retired)

Gerardo Godoy García; Ciro Torres Sáez; Alejandro Molina Cisternas; Camilo Torres Negrier; Héctor Lira Aravena; José Fritz Esparza; Claudio Pacheco Fernández; Jorge Sagardia Monje; Sergio Castro Andrade; Luis Villarroel Gutiérrez; Armando Cofré Correa; Fernando Roa Montaña; Gerardo Meza Acuña; Enrique Gutiérrez Rubilar; Luis Mora Cerda; José Muñoz Leal; Juan Duarte Gallegos; Carlos Miranda Meza; Rufino Jaime Astorga; Luis Urrutia Acuña; Luis Zúñiga Ovalle; Pedro Alfaro Hernández; Orlando Inostroza Lagos; Rosa Ramos Hernández; Gustavo Caruvan Soto; Héctor Valdebenito Araya; Manuel Avendaño González; José Mora Diocares; Guido Jara Brevis; Nelson Ortiz Vignolo; Ruderlindo Urrutia Jorquera; Héctor Flores Vergara; Jerónimo Neira Méndez; Manuel Montré Méndez; Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo; Claudio Orerllana de la Pinta; Nelson Iturriaga Cortés; Luis Gutiérrez Uribe; José Ojeda Obando;

Air Force Delia Gajardo Cortés; Hernán Avalos Muñoz

Navy Teresa Navarro Osorio;

Prosecuted who are already serving sentences

Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda; Pedro Espinoza Bravo; Raúl Iturriaga Neumann; Marcelo Moren Brito; Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko; Ricardo Lawrence Mires; Basclay Zapata Reyes; Conrado Pacheco; Francisco Ferrer Lima; Gerardo Urrich; Orlando Manzo Durán; Rizier Altez España; Fernando Lauriani Maturana

Source: La Nación, May 27, 2008

Magistrate Hernán Crisosto established that the dictatorship's intelligence agents participated as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of Bernardo Castro López, who later appeared on a supposed list of dead in clashes in Argentina.

The minister for extraordinary causes at the Santiago Court of Appeals designated for human rights violation cases, Hernán Crisosto, issued a sentence on January 6 regarding the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of Bernardo de Castro López, an event that occurred starting September 14, 1974.

In the case, the magistrate sentenced the former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda, César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, and Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann to 13 years in prison as authors.

Likewise, Minister Crisosto sentenced Orlando Manzo Durán, Pedro René Alfaro Fernández, Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, Héctor Alfredo Flores Vergara, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Risiere del Prado Altez España, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Manuel Heriberto Avendaño González, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Alejandro Francisco Astudillo Adonis, Demóstenes Eugenio Cárdenas Saavedra, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, and Alejandro Francisco Molina Cisternas to 10 years in prison as authors of aggravated kidnapping.

Meanwhile, as accomplices, he sentenced Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortez and José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez to 4 years in prison, without benefits; and acquitted Basclay Zapata Reyes.

THE RULING

According to the resolution, Minister Hernán Crisosto considered the following facts proven: "That on the afternoon of September 14, 1974, Bernardo de Castro López, a militant of the Socialist Party, was detained at his home located at Calle Bilbao No. 1236, in the commune of Providencia, being taken to a Chilean Investigative Police barracks where he was interrogated and then handed over to DINA agents, who took him to the clandestine detention center known as 'Venda Sexy,' located at Calle Irán No. 3037, in Santiago, and subsequently he was transferred to the clandestine detention center known as 'Cuatro Álamos,' located at Calle Canadá No. 3000, in the commune of Santiago, centers that were guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access," he states in his first point.

In a second point, he notes that "During his stay at the 'Venda Sexy' barracks, De Castro López remained without contact with the outside, blindfolded and tied up, being continuously subjected to interrogations under torture by DINA agents operating in said barracks with the purpose of obtaining information regarding members of his political group, to proceed with the detention of the members of that organization, an isolation that continued at the Cuatro Álamos Center." "That the last time the victim De Castro López was seen alive by other detainees occurred on an undetermined day in the month of October 1974, and he remains disappeared to this date," in the third point.

In the fourth, that "the name of Bernardo de Castro López appeared on a list of 119 people, published in the national press after it appeared on a list published in the magazine LEA of Argentina, dated July 15, 1975, in which it was reported that Bernardo de Castro López had died in Argentina, along with 59 other people belonging to leftist groups, due to internal disputes that arose among those members; and that the publications that declared the victim De Castro López dead had their origin in disinformation maneuvers carried out by DINA agents abroad." As a fifth point, he established that "the facts established in the previous consideration constitute the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Bernardo de Castro López, provided for and sanctioned in Article 141, paragraph 3 of the Penal Code of the time, in relation to the first paragraph of the same article, since the deprivation of liberty or confinement of the victim has lasted for more than 90 days, and therefore produced serious damage to the person of the victim, which finally resulted in their disappearance."

Source: La Nación, January 8, 2015

Santiago Court sentenced 26 DINA agents for their responsibility in the aggravated kidnapping of a student.

The appellate court increased to 10 years in prison the sentence to be served by Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Jaime Mora Diocares, and Moisés Paulino Campos as authors of aggravated kidnapping.

In a unanimous ruling, the Santiago Court issued a sentence against 26 agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the aggravated kidnapping of María Cristina López Stewart. The crime was perpetrated starting September 23, 1974, within the framework of the so-called Operation Colombo.

The appellate court increased to 10 years in prison the sentence to be served by Armando Segundo Cofré Correa, José Jaime Mora Diocares, and Moisés Paulino Campos as authors of aggravated kidnapping. Likewise, the sentences for Óscar Belarmino la Flor Flores, Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, and Roberto Hernán Rodríguez Manquel were increased to 5 years and one day in prison as accomplices.

Likewise, the Court confirmed the 15-year prison sentences for César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko for their responsibility as authors; and ratified the 10-year sentences for agents Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Gerardo Meza Acuña, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Hermon Helec Alfaro Mundaca, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Francisco Maximiliano Ferrer Lima, Fernando Eduardo Lauriani Maturana, and Rosa Humilde Ramos Hernández, also as authors.

During the investigation stage, the following facts were established:

"In the early hours of September 23, 1974, María Cristina López Stewart, 21 years old, a History and Geography student at the University of Chile and a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was detained at the property located at Calle Alonso de Camargo No. 1107, in the commune of Las Condes, by agents belonging to the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who transported her in a pickup truck to the clandestine DINA detention center known as 'Ollagüe,' located at Calle José Domingo Cañas No. 1367, in the commune of Ñuñoa, which was guarded by armed guards and to which only DINA agents had access;

During her stay at the José Domingo Cañas barracks, the victim López Stewart remained without contact with the outside, blindfolded and tied up, being continuously subjected to interrogations under torture by DINA agents operating in said barracks with the purpose of obtaining information regarding members of the MIR, to proceed with the detention of other members of that organization.

The last time the victim López Stewart was seen by other detainees occurred on an undetermined day in November 1974, and she is currently disappeared;

The name of María Cristina López Stewart appeared on a list of 119 people, published in the national press after it appeared on a list published in the magazine "O'DIA" of Brazil, dated June 25, 1975, in which it was reported that María Cristina López Stewart had died in Argentina, along with 58 other people belonging to the MIR, due to internal disputes that arose among those members; establishing that the publications that declared the victim López Stewart dead had their origin in disinformation maneuvers carried out by DINA agents abroad."

Source: pjud.cl, September 9, 2016