We are the sisters of JECAR NEHGME CRISTI, murdered at 28 years of age, a son, militant and leader of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), a renowned leader of the Chilean left, and a prominent fighter for democracy and socialism.

He was murdered by Army officials on active duty: Pedro Guzmán Olivares, Luis Sanhueza Ross, Jaime Norambuena Aguilar, Manuel Allende Tello, and Silvio Corssini Escárate who, under the orders of Brigadier Enrique Leddy Araneda and General Gustavo Abarzúa, shot him in cold blood with 18 bullets on the night of September 04, 1989.

For the second time, together with our mother, we had to face the crime of a member of our family at the hands of the Dictatorship. Indeed, back in October 1973, the military had executed my father, JECAR NEHGME CORNEJO, 32 years old, 3 children, militant and leader of the Partido Socialista.

On January 28 of this year, our family was once again the victim of an attack: The criminal chamber of the Supreme Court, composed of ministers NIBALDO SEGURA, RUBÉN BALLESTEROS, CARLOS KÜNSEMÜLLER, and the participating lawyers JUAN CARLOS CÁRCAMO and ÓSCAR HERRERA, unanimously issued a final ruling granting freedom to the criminals.

They applied the following "sentences": Brigadier Enrique Leddy Araneda: 5 years of SUPERVISED RELEASE. Colonel Pedro Javier Guzmán Olivares: 3 years, REMITTED SENTENCE. Captain Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross: 3 years, REMITTED SENTENCE.

Colonel Jaime Eduardo Norambuena Aguilar: 2 years, REMITTED SENTENCE. Major Manuel Allende Tello: 541 days, REMITTED SENTENCE. Captain Silvio Corsini Escárate: 2 years, REMITTED SENTENCE. General Gustavo Abarzúa Rivadeneira: No conviction.

We are left only to express our indignation, rage, and helplessness at this decision that rewards criminals. It is a final ruling, "divine and unassailable," as there is no recourse to examine its legality.

Surely today these Ministers will receive the tacit or express thanks of the murderers and their superiors, and the congratulations of their lawyers for such a precious "conviction." Furthermore, the ruling will be welcomed by the right and the Concertación for contributing to "democracy" by guaranteeing "social peace." But know that social peace is built on justice, and the triumph they celebrate today is ephemeral, because they have obtained it through an unjust determination that cannot withstand any analysis.

They have transgressed minimum standards of justice, even if it bears the signature of the highest court. Indeed, the Ministers of the Criminal Chamber have issued a ruling absolutely devoid of impartiality, privileging the criminals and denying justice to the families.

Nibaldo Segura and Rubén Ballesteros, Judges of the Dictatorship who continue to occupy these positions thanks to an ossified appointment mechanism that privileges political compromises between the Concertación and the Right, should, for the sake of basic ethics, abstain from intervening in these cases.

However, every day they continue to set more murderers free. These arbitrary decisions further muddy the Judiciary, which enjoys little credibility among the citizenry, for between cases of corruption and decisions like these, which protect the most powerful, they are condemning those affected to seek their own paths for conflict resolution.

In this search, Jecar and the thousands of those subjected to political executions and the forcibly disappeared "are in good health." Their likeness is strengthened by injustice. They are present in the streets, in the factories, in the classrooms, in the Mapuche communities, in the struggles of workers and residents.

Our dead are an example of life, they are heroes, they are the hope for a different life. And while the powerful fight over positions, cameras, and votes, and enjoy excellent salaries, we, thousands of men and women in different parts of the country, day by day, silently, build the future.

And just as yesterday we had the capacity and the courage to end the Dictatorship, tomorrow we will be capable of walking together again to definitively conquer the justice that has been snatched from us.

To our comrades, friends, and all the people who have accompanied us on this long road, we confirm that we do not forget JECAR, nor do we forgive the criminals. We will denounce this unjust decision before the Inter-American Court. We invite everyone not to falter, to turn this rage into denunciation, to keep moving forward, because we have the certainty that this situation must and will change.

Source: Santiago, January 30, 2009.

Visiting Minister Hugo Dolmestch determined to prosecute three Army officers, two retired and one active, for their alleged responsibility in the crime of the former political leader and member of the MIR, Jecar Neghme.

The homicide occurred in September 1989 and is considered one of the last crimes committed by former agents of the repressive apparatus of the military dictatorship. The magistrate's decision is against the uniformed men and former members of the dissolved Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI): Lieutenant Colonel Jaime Norambuena Aguilar and officers Silvio Corcinni Escárate (ret.) and Manuel Allende Tello (ret.).

Magistrate Dolmestch ordered the preventive detention of the three military men at the Police Battalion of the Telecommunications regiment. The plaintiffs stated today that they hope the Army will immediately retire Lieutenant Colonel Jaime Norambuena Aguilar, one of the few active officers who has been prosecuted in human rights violation cases.

Neghme, spokesperson for the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), was murdered during the electoral campaign that culminated in the victory of Patricio Aylwin in the elections of December 14 of that same year, which marked Chile's return to democracy.

Source: TVN.cl, April 25, 2005.

Dolmestch files charges against six former CNI agents for the crime of Jécar Neghme

The assassination of the MIR leader took place on the same day that Patricio Aylwin was proclaimed as the presidential candidate of the Concertación. Hugo Dolmestch, the visiting minister investigating the assassination of the spokesperson for the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), filed charges for qualified homicide against six former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI).

The accused are Brigadier (ret.) Enrique Leddy Araneda; retired Colonels Eduardo Norambuena Aguilar and Pedro Guzmán Olivares; Captains Silvio Corsini Encárate and Luis Arturo Sanhueza Ross; and Major (ret.) Manuel Navarrete Tello, all for the crime of qualified homicide that occurred on September 4, 1989.

According to the newspaper Siete, all members of the "Brigada Azul" have confessed to the crime since last May, with the exception of Brigadier (ret.) Leddy Araneda. Gunned down Jecar Neghme was gunned down as he was leaving the MIR headquarters (located on Calle Bulnes) on the very day that Patricio Aylwin was proclaimed as the candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, an election that the party's most important spokesperson had tried to legitimize among his comrades, sparking a political struggle within the conglomerate.

This circumstance was used for years by the repressive agents to distance themselves from the responsibility they bore in the crime, attributing the homicide to Neghme's own comrades.

Source: El Mostrador, February 6, 2006.