Case File No. 12.293.2005: Miguel Angel Becerra Hidalgo Case

1.- The accused, Paúl Schäfer Schneider, already identified, is sentenced to seven years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree, to the accessory penalty of absolute perpetual disqualification for public offices and positions and political rights, and absolute disqualification for professional titles for the duration of the sentence, and to the payment of court costs, as the perpetrator of the crime of qualified homicide against Miguel Angel Becerra Hidalgo, an act committed in the so-called “Ex Colonia Dignidad,” Parral, between July 26 and 29, 1974. 2.- The accused, Kurt Schnellenkamp Nelaimischkies, already identified, is sentenced to five hundred and forty-one days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, to the accessory penalty of suspension from public office or position for the duration of the sentence, and to the payment of court costs, as an accessory after the fact to the crime of qualified homicide against Miguel Ángel Becerra Hidalgo, which occurred in the Ex Colonia Dignidad, Parral, between July 26 and 29, 1974. 3.- The accused, Rudolf Hans Cöllen Franzkowsky, already identified, is sentenced to five hundred and forty-one days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, to the accessory penalty of suspension from public office or position for the duration of the sentence, and to the payment of court costs, as an accessory after the fact to the crime of qualified homicide against Miguel Ángel Becerra Hidalgo.

Source: Judiciary, November 27, 2008

The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed today a ruling sentencing Paul Schaefer, former leader of Colonia Dignidad, to seven years in prison for the 1974 homicide of Miguel Ángel Becerra Hidalgo, an agent of the DINA, the secret police of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

In a unanimous ruling, the magistrates of the VIII Chamber of the appellate court also sentenced Kurt Schnellenkamp Nelaimischkies and Rudolf Cöllen Frankowsky, collaborators of Schaefer, to 541 days in prison as accessories after the fact to the crime, although both were granted the benefit of supervised release, judicial sources reported.

In 2005, after nearly eight years as a fugitive from justice, Schaefer was captured in Argentina and expelled to Chile. Furthermore, the court determined that the three convicted individuals must jointly pay total compensation of 170 million pesos (approximately 310,000 dollars) to nine plaintiffs in the case, all of whom are relatives of the victim.

Schaefer, 87, is currently serving a sentence of three years and 300 days in prison for the storage of weapons of war, another of three years and one day for the torture of German members of Colonia Dignidad, and a third of 20 years as the perpetrator of five rapes and 21 sexual abuses against children residing in the enclave.

The former non-commissioned officer of the Nazi Army has been hospitalized in a prison hospital for more than two weeks in serious condition due to progressive heart problems, according to doctors, who have indicated that his prognosis is uncertain.

Schaefer founded Colonia Dignidad in 1961 in the vicinity of the town of Parral, some 3,600 kilometers south of Santiago, which over time became “a state within a state,” as defined by former Chilean President Patricio Aylwin.

The fortified property, spanning some 16,000 hectares, was used as a concentration and torture camp by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), according to survivor testimonies. Miguel Ángel Becerra Hidalgo was a former member of the far-right group “Patria y Libertad,” which employed terrorism against the government of Salvador Allende, and who became a DINA agent after the 1973 military coup.

According to the case file, he was 33 years old when he was poisoned between July 26 and 29, 1974, inside Colonia Dignidad, where he lived. His body appeared days later in a nearby area, where it had been taken by Schnellenkamp and Cöllen, who attempted to simulate that the man had been struck by a vehicle.

The motive for the crime was that Becerra had expressed disagreement with the torture and mistreatment applied to political prisoners. In 2005, after nearly eight years as a fugitive from justice, Schaefer was captured in Argentina and expelled to Chile.

Source: ultimahora.com, July 13, 2009