The visiting judge for human rights violation cases at the Valparaíso Court of Appeals, Jaime Arancibia, ordered the arrest of four former members of the Navy for crimes against humanity.

Specifically, the four former uniformed officers are allegedly responsible, to varying degrees, for the kidnapping and torture of Felix Figueras Ubach, a professor at the Pedagogical Institute of the Universidad de Chile, which occurred on December 11, 1973, in Viña del Mar.

The Investigations Police (PDI) has now been tasked with the arrests of Eduardo Rigoberto Cruz Johnson, Héctor Vicente Santibáñez Obreque, Valentín Evaristo Riquelme Villalobos, and Alejo Esparza Martínez, who are identified as the alleged perpetrators of the crime.

Judge Arancibia explained that three criminal complaints were filed in this case: one from the victim's family members, another from the Association of Relatives of Political Executions, and a third by the former Undersecretary of the Interior, Mahmud Aleuy, while he was in government. He also addressed the responsibilities regarding the incident.

“In the case, it is estimated that there is responsibility, both from the point of view of the Command that participated and the individuals who were the interrogators at that time at the Naval Academy,” Arancibia detailed.

According to the case records, in December 1973, the professor was kidnapped from his home in Viña del Mar and was initially taken to the Coraceros military regiment.

Subsequently, he was taken to the Naval War Academy in Playa Ancha, where he was subjected to interrogation and torture.

Later, Figueras Ubach was led to a bathroom in the facility, where he threw himself out of a window, which caused his immediate death.

Likewise, the investigation carried out by the visiting judge detailed that, starting from the day of the Military Coup, personnel from the Armed Forces, along with the Carabineros and PDI, organized groups with the purpose of persecuting opponents of the military regime.

Source: AgenciaUNO, November 08, 2018