Among them is Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, the former deputy director of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), and Álex Ambler, who was convicted for the murder of the Vergara Toledo brothers. Although the Constitution stipulates that those sentenced to an afflictive penalty have their right to suffrage suspended, 51 of the 163 individuals who, as of November 2015, were on the registry of the Human Rights Department of the Ministry of the Interior for crimes against humanity, are currently listed as eligible to vote. “It is deeply painful that there is a possibility that this deferential treatment is given to these criminals against Human Rights (…) these criminals who murdered people for a political purpose, for a State purpose, can be voting. This seems to us to be of the utmost gravity, and unfortunately, the majority of the Chilean population does not know this,” said Alicia Lira, president of the Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados Políticos (AFEP), to El Dínamo. This is the case of Raúl Iturriaga Neumann, the former deputy director of the DINA, who, according to his electoral data on the Servel website, is eligible to vote in the commune of Santiago. He is expected to serve his sentence until the year 2037. Also eligible to vote is José Rafael Aguirre Aguirre, who has been serving a sentence since 2010 for the homicide of three people in Porvenir. The same situation applies to Álex Ambler, convicted for the death of the Vergara Toledo brothers; to Miguel Estay Reyno—better known as “El Fanta”—involved in the Caso Degollados; and to the former military prosecutor Fernando Torres Silva, convicted for his participation in the Berríos case. Likewise, the following individuals are listed as eligible to vote despite being sentenced to an afflictive penalty: Juan Abello Vildósola, Jorge Andrade Gómez, Rubén Aracena González, Gerardo Aravena Longa, Camilo Astete Cáceres, Rubén Barría Igor, Iván Bravo Llanos, Armando Cabrera Aguilar, Marcelo Castro Mendoza, Eugenio Covarrubias Valenzuela, Jorge Del Río Del Río, Eudocio Díaz Ibacache, Santiago Fernández Espinoza, Luis Fernández Monjes, Rubén Agustín Fiedler Alvarado, Germán García, José Manuel García Reyes, Fernando Gómez Segovia, Mauricio González Cortes, Hugo del Tránsito Hernández Valle, Carlos Herrera Jiménez, Raúl Lillo Gutiérrez, José Leonardo López Tapia, Jorge Marín Jiménez, Manuel Ángel Morales Acevedo, Juan Hernán Morales Salgado, Miguel Muñoz Uribe, Emilio Neira Donoso, Juan Antonio Ortiz Toledo, Nelson Paz Bustamante, Rodrigo Pérez Martínez, Manuel Pérez Santillán, Rafael Pérez Torres, Fernando Guillermo Santiago Polanco Gallardo, Pablo Rodríguez Márquez, Nelson Williams Roman Vargas, Carlos Romero Muñoz, Luis Romo Morales, Marcelo Sandoval Durán, Arturo Silva Valdés, Miguel Ángel Patricio Soto Duarte, Francisco Toledo Puente, Jaime Fernando Torres Gacitúa, Juan Fernando Alfredo Torres Silva, Jorge Octavio Vargas Bories, and Patricio Augusto Zamora Rodríguez. Article 16 of the Fundamental Charter indicates that the right to suffrage is suspended “for being a person accused of a crime that merits an afflictive penalty,” and Article 17 establishes that citizenship status is also lost for having been sentenced to a penalty exceeding three years and one day. The Electoral Service has not yet issued an official statement.

Source: elmostrador.cl, October 18, 2016

The visiting minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Fernando Carreño Ortega, issued a first-instance conviction in the investigation into the qualified kidnappings of Segundo Barriga Gutiérrez and Hernán Catalán Escobar, which occurred beginning in November 1975 in the town of Pitrufquén, La Araucanía Region.

The magistrate determined the following sanctions against retired members of the Carabineros de Chile: -First Sergeant (ret.) Eudocio Díaz Ibacache: 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment. -Sub-officer (ret.) Edgardo López Cofré: 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment.

This is the eighth conviction issued by Minister Carreño in human rights cases in the year 2008 and the thirteenth since 2004.

Source: poderjudicial.cl, October 29, 2008

Sentences reduced for Carabineros accused of kidnapping during the dictatorship

The Supreme Court reduced the sentences of a retired Sergeant and a retired Sub-officer of the Carabineros, accused of the qualified kidnapping of two shoemakers, militants of the Socialist Youth, which occurred two years after the military coup in the commune of Pitrufquén, La Araucanía region.

On November 21, 1975, in the La Cascada sector, commune of Pitrufquén, officials from the Comuy detachment detained two supporters of the Unidad Popular, Osvaldo Segundo Barriga Gutiérrez and Hernán Eusebio Catalán Escobar, both 24 years old.

They were forced to get off the bus in which they were traveling and were taken to an unknown destination, as indicated by witness statements; they have been forcibly disappeared since that date. The special minister, Fernando Carreño Ortega, issued a conviction against the former first sergeant, Eudocio Díaz Ibacache, and the sub-officer, Edgardo Saturnino López Cofré, who in 1975 were performing police duties at the Comuy police station, which was under the jurisdiction of the fifth Carabineros precinct of Pitrufquén.

In his judicial ruling, Minister Fernando Carreño stated that, given the length of the sentence imposed on the accused, the benefits established by law would not be granted, and therefore they should effectively serve the 5 years and one day in prison.

However, this Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a final sentence in the investigation into the qualified kidnappings of Osvaldo Barriga and Hernán Catalán. In a split decision, the ministers of the Second Chamber determined the following sanctions: For former Carabinero Eudocio Díaz Ibacache: 5 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release granted, along with his comrade-in-arms, Edgardo López Cofré: 5 years of imprisonment, also with the benefit of supervised release.

Source: biobiochile.cl, October 29, 2009