Visiting judge Carlos Aldana sentenced retired Navy captains Omar Dapick Bitterlich and Aníbal Aravena Miranda to 3 years and one day of imprisonment as perpetrators of the crime. The visiting judge for human rights violation cases at the Court of Appeals of Concepción, Carlos Aldana, issued a sentence in the investigation he is conducting regarding the crime of applying torture resulting in the death of teacher Héctor Velásquez Molina, an illicit act perpetrated by retired Navy captains Omar Dapick Bitterlich and Aníbal Aravena in November 1973 in the city of Tomé.

The sentence established a penalty of 3 years and one day of imprisonment for the retired captains as perpetrators of the crime. In the civil aspect, the ruling ordered the State of Chile to pay a total compensation of $440,000,000 to the victim's family members.

According to the investigated evidence, Judge Aldana establishes: "In November 1973, there was a Public Jail in Tomé under the charge of the Gendarmería de Chile, which was connected internally—through a door—to the Tomé Carabineros Police Station—a unit under the charge of Major Juan Humberto Utrera Chávez—which, in its northern part, at the back of the property where it was located, had a shed used as a stable.

From September 11, 1973, this shed was used by Chilean Navy officials to interrogate—under psychological and physical duress—detainees. These officials were commanded by Lieutenant Raúl Silva Gordon (currently deceased) and followed by other Navy officers, among whom was Omar Antonio Dapick Bitterlich.

They came from various divisions of the Escuela de Grumetes and also performed police functions, as they investigated acts classified as political, extremist, or violations of the arms control law, and they interrogated and reported individuals to the Naval Prosecutor's Office of Talcahuano, depending on the danger posed by the individuals; On November 6, 1973, Tomé Investigative Police officials Alejandro Ibáñez Valenzuela and Tito Riquelme Garrido arrested—in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by the Naval Prosecutor's Office of Talcahuano—Héctor Fernando Velásquez Molina, a member of the Partido Radical and a well-known teacher and merchant of said commune, at the 'Escuela Arturo Prat' school in Tomé. The arrest was carried out without incident, and the detainee was transferred to the police unit, where the respective report and health record were prepared, and he was then referred to the Public Jail of Tomé, at the disposal of the Chilean Navy; Under these conditions, Velásquez Molina, while detained in the Public Jail, was accused of political activities against the regime and was taken from the penitentiary unit to the stable of the Tomé Carabineros Police Station, where he was interrogated on the afternoon of November 7, 1973, by Chilean Navy officials (...) once in his cell at the Public Jail, Velásquez Molina began to complain intensely of pain caused by the interrogation session (...) until around 08:00 hours that day, when Velásquez Molina suffered, as a result of the torture session, acute pancreatitis with hemorrhage, which caused a shock that led to his death."

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, July 6, 2016

Justice sentences two former Navy officials to 3 years of supervised release for torturing and killing a teacher in Tomé

The Supreme Court confirmed the mocking sentence that supposedly convicted two former Navy officers for their responsibility in the "crime of applying torture resulting in death" of teacher Héctor Fernando Velásquez Molina.

The crime of torture (and not the mockery of "application of torture resulting in death" as they disguise it) was perpetrated in November 1973 in the town of Tomé against the 37-year-old primary school teacher and member of the Partido Radical.

In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, composed of ministers Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Lamberto Cisternas, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, and acting lawyer María Cristina Gajardo Harboe, ratified the first-instance sentence issued by Judge Carlos Aldana in July 2016, which "convicted" Omar Antonio Dapick Bitterlich and Aníbal Antonio Aravena Miranda as perpetrators of the crime to 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release.

This is impunity in disguise, because the criminals remain free of effective punishment. This ruling by the Second Chamber does nothing but confirm the trend of providing immunity to the perpetrators of crimes against humanity that has prevailed in the Supreme Court in recent months.

During the investigation phase of the case, visiting judge Carlos Aldana managed to establish the following facts: "a) That, following the military pronouncement that occurred on September 11, 1973, Decree Law No. 3 was issued on the same date, declaring the entire national territory under a State of Siege, with the Director of the Escuela de Grumetes of Isla Quiriquina, Navy Captain Aníbal Octavio Aravena Miranda, assuming military and administrative control of Tomé as the Plaza Chief and Governor of said commune, along with the officers and subordinate personnel under his command belonging to the aforementioned school. b) That, at that time, November 1973, there was a Public Jail in Tomé under the charge of the Gendarmería de Chile, which was connected internally—through a door—to the Tomé Carabineros Police Station—a unit under the charge of Major Juan Humberto Utrera Chávez—which, in its northern part, at the back of the property where it was located, had a shed used as a stable. From September 11, 1973, this shed was used by Chilean Navy officials to interrogate—under psychological and physical duress—detainees. These officials were commanded by Lieutenant Raúl Silva Gordon (currently deceased) and followed by other Navy officers, among whom was Omar Antonio Dapick Bitterlich. They came from various divisions of the Escuela de Grumetes and also performed police functions, as they investigated acts classified as political, extremist, or violations of the arms control law, and they interrogated and reported individuals to the Naval Prosecutor's Office of Talcahuano, depending on the danger posed by the individuals. c) That, on November 6, 1973, Tomé Investigative Police officials Alejandro Ibáñez Valenzuela and Tito Riquelme Garrido arrested—in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by the Naval Prosecutor's Office of Talcahuano—Héctor Fernando Velásquez Molina, a member of the Partido Radical and a well-known teacher and merchant of said commune, at the 'Escuela Arturo Prat' school in Tomé. The arrest was carried out without incident, and the detainee was transferred to the police unit, where the respective report and health record were prepared, and he was then referred to the Public Jail of Tomé, at the disposal of the Chilean Navy. d) That, under these conditions, Velásquez Molina, while detained in the Public Jail, was accused of political activities against the regime and was taken from the penitentiary unit to the stable of the Tomé Carabineros Police Station, where he was interrogated on the afternoon of November 7, 1973, by Chilean Navy officials, with Raúl Silva Gordon (currently deceased) and another Chilean Navy lieutenant being identified so far. The interrogation consisted of applying duress, stripping the interrogated person, beating him, and burning him with cigarettes (as Maria Angélica Aguilar states at page 108, who saw the detainee's corpse), among other humiliations, which were witnessed by detainees Jorge Artemio Sandoval Medina (page 78 vta.) and José Heriberto Sáez Moraga (page 224). Hours later, and believing that the objective of the interrogation had not been achieved, Silva Gordon called Lieutenant Omar Dapick Bitterlich, whom he asked to relieve him in said tasks, which he did hours after dinner. He continued the interrogation under torture but could not continue because the detainee was not responding to his questions, ordering a non-commissioned officer to transfer the detainee back to the public jail, after a check by a naval nurse who was at the scene and witnessed the interrogation. e) Once in his cell at the Public Jail, Velásquez Molina began to complain intensely of pain caused by the interrogation session, as attested by his cellmates Fernando Pérez Rodríguez (page 74), Emilio Maquiavelo Urzúa (page 106), and José Sáez Moraga (pages 224 and 631), until around 08:00 hours that day, when Velásquez Molina suffered, as a result of the torture session, acute pancreatitis with hemorrhage, which caused a shock that led to his death."

Source: elciudadano.cl, August 17, 2018

Supreme Court convicts former officers and members of the Navy for the crime against a textile worker from Tomé in 1973

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal filed against the sentence that convicted former officers and members of the Navy for their responsibility in the consummated crime of homicide of textile worker Ricardo Antonio Barra Martínez, perpetrated on September 28, 1973, inside Fuerte Borgoño at the Talcahuano Naval Base.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 132.141-2020), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, minister María Teresa Letelier, and acting lawyer Ricardo Abuauad—ruled out any error of law in the challenged sentence, issued by the Court of Appeals of Concepción, which confirmed the first-instance ruling that sentenced the then-Navy Lieutenant Julio Humberto Salvador Alarcón Saavedra to 5 years and one day of imprisonment as the inducing author of the crime, and the then-conscript soldier Patricio Enrique Salamanca Marín to 3 years and one day of imprisonment as the material author of the crime. Therefore, it was resolved that: "the cassation appeals on the merits filed by the defenses of the convicted Salamanca Marín and Alarcón Saavedra against the sentence issued by the Court of Appeals of Concepción on August 25, 2020, are rejected, and therefore, it is not void," the Supreme Court ruled.

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Supreme Court convicts former Commander-in-Chief Juan Emilio Cheyre and eight other former Army members for the Caravan of Death crimes in La Serena In the case, former Navy officers Aníbal Octavio Aravena Miranda and Omar Antonio Dapick Bitterlich were also convicted in the first instance to only 541 days of imprisonment as authors of unlawful coercion, and that sentence remains confirmed as they did not file any subsequent appeal.

In the judicial investigation and first-instance ruling, visiting judge Carlos Aldana Fuentes established that on September 27, 1973, around 08:00 hours, personnel from the Tomé Carabineros Police Station, under the charge of Major Juan Humberto Utreras Chávez, supported by Navy personnel, carried out an operation on the house marked No. 10 on Cerro Miramar, with the objective of arresting individuals reported as left-wing extremists.

During the operation, four people were arrested, all members of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) residing in Tomé. The detainees were textile workers from the Paños FIAP Tomé factory, Héctor Manuel Lepe Moraga (29 years old), Tránsito del Carmen Cabrera Ortiz (28 years old), Ricardo Antonio Barra Martínez (24 years old), and university student Miguel Ángel Catalán Febrero (24 years old).

All detainees were transferred to the Tomé Police Station, where they were interrogated and tortured. While the detainees were in the police station's cells, they were also interrogated—especially Barra Martínez—by Navy officers, with the application of torture and unnecessary rigor, such as cigarette burns on the body, kicks, punches, and blows with blunt objects, and being hung by their feet to submerge their heads in a drum of water.

Among some of the officers who carried out these practices were the then-Lieutenant Omar Antonio Dapick Bitterlich, who reported to Eduardo Silva Gordon (deceased), and they in turn reported to the Navy Captain, Director of the Escuela de Grumetes and Plaza Chief of Tomé—a place that was under a state of siege—Aníbal Octavio Aravena Miranda.

The following day (September 28, 1973), around 11:00 hours, the Tomé Carabineros placed the four detainees at the disposal of and handed them over to the Plaza Chief of Tomé, Navy Captain Aníbal Octavio Aravena Miranda.

They were transferred to the Naval Prosecutor's Office of Talcahuano, guarded by Navy personnel, and the detainees entered Fuerte Borgoño, under the charge of the Marine Infantry Detachment, Aldea. Under these conditions, Barra and the other detainees arrived at Fuerte Borgoño, where they were received by DIM personnel who gave them a brutal "welcome" beating.

While already detained in the place known as 'La Ciudadela', Lieutenant Julio Alarcón Saavedra ordered conscript soldier Patricio Salamanca Marín to beat Barra Martínez—who was visibly tortured. The individual Salamanca proceeded to beat him severely, as a result of which Barra lost his breath and collapsed to the ground, losing his life.

The Navy reported that the cause of death had been 'Sudden death. Cardiac arrest,' occurring at 23:30 hours on September 28, 1973, as recorded in the detainee's death certificate, and the body was subsequently handed over to the family members in a sealed casket." Subsequently, the other three detainees were taken to the Tomé Jail, from where they were removed by Navy members on October 9 to be executed in Quebrada Honda, on the route between Tomé and Penco. by Darío Núñez

Source: resument.cl, January 2, 2024