The minister on special assignment for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, sentenced retired Army officer Víctor Manuel Echeverría Henríquez as the perpetrator of the crime of applying torture to a married couple of lawyers. The illicit act was perpetrated inside the Buin Regiment in October 1973.

In the ruling (case file 51-2014), the visiting minister sentenced Echeverría Henríquez to 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, for the torture applied to Mercedes Bulnes Núñez and Roberto Celedón Fernández.

In the civil aspect, the ruling ordered the convicted individual and the State of Chile to pay, jointly and severally, total compensation of $150,000,000 (one hundred and fifty million pesos) to the victims and their daughters.

According to the background information gathered during the investigation stage, Minister Carroza was able to establish that:

“a.- That inside the Buin Infantry Regiment No. 1, in the month of October 1973, the existence of slogans alluding to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) was discovered, and based on this, an investigation was initiated by the Second Intelligence Section of the Regiment, who carried out raids and interrogations that yielded evidence of meetings having taken place between Army personnel and MIR militants in the city of Santiago; b.- That once the Regiment Command became aware of these circumstances, it communicated them to the Second Division of the Army, which decided to form a special commission with officials from the Intelligence Section II and Investigations personnel, tasked with carrying out inquiries regarding the findings and meetings, which was placed under the command of Army Captain Víctor Manuel Echeverría Henríquez; c.- That one of the many proceedings intended to fulfill the mandate was the one carried out on October 23, 1973, around 6:30 PM, when Captain Víctor Echeverría, accompanied by two Investigations officials, Pedro Espinoza Valdés and Carlos Favre Bocaz (both now deceased), went to the residence of Gonzalo Bulnes Aldunate, located at Pasaje Tomás Andrew No. 128 in the commune of Providencia, and detained the daughter of the homeowner, María Mercedes Bulnes Núñez, and her husband, Roberto Antonio Celedón Fernández, due to their links with MIR militants and for being the owners of the property where the meetings were held; they were placed in a vehicle and transported to the Buin Regiment; d.- That once they were admitted to the Buin Regiment, a site of detention and torture at that time, agents took Roberto Celedón to the second floor of the Regiment Command, where the Intelligence Section facilities were located. There, they proceeded to blindfold him, tie his hands, and force him to undress; they then interrogated him and placed him on a metal cot, where his captors applied electric current to various parts of his body and beat him. After these sessions of torture and interrogation, they took him to the dungeons, where he remained imprisoned between October 23 and November 30, 1973, when he was transferred to the Public Jail; e.- That on that same occasion on October 23, after her husband was transferred to the Intelligence Section facilities, María Mercedes Bulnes was kept at the guard post and regained her freedom that same day. However, she returned to the military unit to see her husband and managed to speak with him, realizing that he was being subjected to torture, which caused her to live in constant anguish until October 30, 1973, when the patrol returned to arrest her, this time at her in-laws' house, and transported her to the Buin Regiment, where she was admitted as a detainee in the military establishment's infirmary. It is inferred that this was done to interrogate her and obtain information from her, with her detention lasting until November 12, 1973. In the meantime, the Head of Intelligence, Víctor Echeverría, continuously came to see her and speak with her, subjecting her to harassment and sexual abuse, ignoring her pregnancy of several weeks, as he added lewd and dishonest acts to his questions, further insinuating that she could obtain her freedom and that of her husband if she acceded to his demands. Finally, thanks to the efforts of her family, she was able to leave the military unit and remain under house arrest; f.- That the Celedón Bulnes couple was prosecuted and brought before a War Council together with others allegedly involved in this conspiracy; thus, Roberto Celedón was sentenced to four years and María Mercedes was acquitted of all charges, but both were subsequently forced to leave the country once Celedón’s prison sentence was commuted.”

Source: elclarin.cl, January 20, 2017

Minister Carroza sentenced retired Army officer to three years of supervised release

Minister Mario Carroza sentenced retired Army officer Víctor Manuel Echeverría as the perpetrator of the crime of applying torture to a married couple at the Buin Regiment in October 1973.

In the ruling, Echeverría Henríquez was sentenced to three years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, for the torture applied to Mercedes Bulnes and Roberto Celedón.

Furthermore, the convicted individual and the State were ordered to pay compensation of 150 million pesos to the victims and their daughters.

Among the details explained in the document is that on "October 23, 1973, around 6:30 PM, Captain Víctor Echeverría went with two Investigations officials, Pedro Espinoza Valdés and Carlos Favre Bocaz (both now deceased), to the residence of Gonzalo Bulnes Aldunate."

The ruling establishes that there, they "detained the daughter of the homeowner, María Mercedes Bulnes Núñez, and her husband, Roberto Antonio Celedón Fernández, due to their links with MIR militants and for being the owners of the property where the meetings were held."

In the case of Celedón, "they proceeded to blindfold him, tie his hands, and force him to undress; they then interrogated him and placed him on a metal cot, where his captors applied electric current to various parts of his body and beat him."

Along with this, it is explained that in the case of Bulnes, "the Head of Intelligence, Víctor Echeverría, continuously came to see her and speak with her, subjecting her to harassment and sexual abuse, ignoring her pregnancy of several weeks, as he added lewd and dishonest acts to his questions, further insinuating that she could obtain her freedom and that of her husband if she acceded to his demands."

Source: cooperativa.cl, January 20, 2017

Santiago Court issues sentences for three human rights violation cases during the dictatorship

The Santiago Court issued sentences in three proceedings for human rights violations in cases investigated in the first instance by visiting ministers Leopoldo Llanos and Mario Carroza. In the first case, the Ninth Chamber of the appellate court confirmed the sentence that condemned retired Investigative Police members Omar Vega Vargas and Luis González Cuevas to 5 years of imprisonment for the homicide of English teacher and Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) militant Arcadia Patricia Flores Pérez, an illicit act perpetrated on August 16, 1981, in the commune of Quinta Normal.

According to the background information gathered in the investigation by Minister Leopoldo Llanos, it was determined that: "At 8:30 AM on August 16, 1981, Guillermo Aurelio Rodríguez Morales was detained by officials of the Assault Investigation Brigade of the Investigative Police.

On September 14, 1973, he had been sentenced by a War Council to 23 years of imprisonment, and through decree 504, it was commuted to exile, and he left the country for Canada; he entered Chile clandestinely in 1978 and was in charge of developing a resistance militia against the military government; one of whose members was Arcadia Patricia Flores Pérez, 27 years old, single, with journalism studies at the University of Chile.

She was a militant in the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), where she held the position of Deputy Chief of the Militia Structure and Chief of Organization, and she became the partner of Rodríguez Morales, renting a room at Calle Santa Petronila No. 644 in Quinta Normal.

Under these circumstances, an operation was organized to carry out a raid on the aforementioned property, which was attended by several members of the Assault Investigation Brigade (at least ten), with the provision that the people who were to enter the property would be the officials who held the rank of chief and deputy chief of the Sub-precinct in charge of the operation, due to having greater seniority; once they entered the property, they walked down a hallway that ended in an interior patio, and behind them followed several officials in 'Indian file,' including Nelson Roberto Cortés Gutiérrez; while Carlos Juvenal Díaz remained outside the property. The chief of the Sub-precinct found two people, Osvaldo del Tránsito Rojas Castillo and Sara del Carmen López Llantén, whom he immediately transferred to the back of the property, while the deputy chief entered the room of the house where Arcadia Flores Pérez was located. She, who had a .38 caliber revolver in her possession and was lying on a bed, exchanged shots with the police and received several mortal gunshot wounds, dying at the scene."

Duress against a married couple at the regiment

In the second case (file 391-2017), the Ninth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Mario Rojas, Alejandro Rivera, and acting lawyer Rodrigo Asenjo—confirmed the sentence that condemned retired Army officer Víctor Manuel Echeverría Henríquez to 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, for the crime of applying torture to the married couple of lawyers Mercedes Bulnes Núñez and Roberto Celedón Fernández, which occurred between the months of October and December 1973 inside the Buin Regiment.

The investigation by Minister Mario Carroza established that:

"a.- That inside the Buin Infantry Regiment No. 1, in the month of October 1973, the existence of slogans alluding to the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) was discovered, and based on this, an investigation was initiated by the Second Intelligence Section of the Regiment, who carried out raids and interrogations that yielded evidence of meetings having taken place between Army personnel and MIR militants in the city of Santiago; b.- That once the Regiment Command became aware of these circumstances, it communicated them to the Second Division of the Army, which decided to form a special commission with officials from the Intelligence Section II and Investigations personnel, tasked with carrying out inquiries regarding the findings and meetings, which was placed under the command of Army Captain Víctor Manuel Echeverría Henríquez; c.- That one of the many proceedings intended to fulfill the mandate was the one carried out on October 23, 1973, around 6:30 PM, when Captain Víctor Echeverría, accompanied by two Investigations officials, Pedro Espinoza Valdés and Carlos Favre Bocaz (both now deceased), went to the residence of Gonzalo Bulnes Aldunate, located at Pasaje Tomás Andrew No. 128 in the commune of Providencia, and detained the daughter of the homeowner, María Mercedes Bulnes Núñez, and her husband, Roberto Antonio Celedón Fernández, due to their links with MIR militants and for being the owners of the property where the meetings were held; they were placed in a vehicle and transported to the Buin Regiment; d.- That once they were admitted to the Buin Regiment, a site of detention and torture at that time, agents took Roberto Celedón to the second floor of the Regiment Command, where the Intelligence Section facilities were located. There, they proceeded to blindfold him, tie his hands, and force him to undress; they then interrogated him and placed him on a metal cot, where his captors applied electric current to various parts of his body and beat him. After these sessions of torture and interrogation, they took him to the dungeons, where he remained imprisoned between October 23 and November 30, 1973, when he was transferred to the Public Jail; e.- That on that same occasion on October 23, after her husband was transferred to the Intelligence Section facilities, María Mercedes Bulnes was kept at the guard post and regained her freedom that same day. However, she returned to the military unit to see her husband and managed to speak with him, realizing that he was being subjected to torture, which caused her to live in constant anguish until October 30, 1973, when the patrol returned to arrest her, this time at her in-laws' house, and transported her to the Buin Regiment, where she was admitted as a detainee in the military establishment's infirmary. It is inferred that this was done to interrogate her and obtain information from her, with her detention lasting until November 12, 1973. In the meantime, the Head of Intelligence, Víctor Echeverría, continuously came to see her and speak with her, subjecting her to harassment and sexual abuse, ignoring her pregnancy of several weeks, as he added lewd and dishonest acts to his questions, further insinuating that she could obtain her freedom and that of her husband if she acceded to his demands. Finally, thanks to the efforts of her family, she was able to leave the military unit and remain under house arrest; f.- That the Celedón Bulnes couple was prosecuted and brought before a War Council together with others allegedly involved in this conspiracy; thus, Roberto Celedón was sentenced to four years and María Mercedes was acquitted of all charges, but both were subsequently forced to leave the country once Celedón’s prison sentence was commuted."

Acquittal

In the third case (file 17-2017), the First Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Carlos Gajardo, Pedro Advis, and acting lawyer Mauricio Decap—confirmed the sentence that acquitted Leandro Morales Sanhueza for the homicide of Domingo Yañez Hernández.

The investigation by Minister Mario Carroza established that: "his statement given at the time before the Military Prosecutor's Office has been the only initial piece of evidence that places him at the scene of the events and from which some degree of participation in them is inferred, with no other presentation, report, or expert opinion having provided the court with sufficient elements of conviction to attribute more responsibility to him than that described.

The lack of technical procedures carried out at the time in situ, the absence of professional teams analyzing the crime scene and recovering scientific evidence, and the total absence of eyewitnesses place the court in a position of lacking determining elements to define the degree of participation of the accused or any other participant.

Not even the expert reports prepared during this investigation, expanded at the request of the parties to the process, provide conclusive findings regarding the origin of the shot that caused the victim's death, but rather conclude with general corollaries about the caliber and type of weapon based on the existence of the wound present on the victim's body; this is due to a lack of background information with which to dynamically establish how the events occurred."

"Therefore," it continues, "the statements given in the process by the witnesses are not sufficient, as none of them has been able to identify the author of the shots, much less point to the accused as one of those who would have used a firearm.

Thus, and with two probable versions existing among all those who have testified regarding the origin of the shot—one that speaks of shots coming from the dwellings occupied by Carabineros and another of civilians who were guarding the commercial premises—none of them is sufficiently certain, as they are based on comments or rumors that the deponents themselves have indicated having heard after the events occurred, and without suitable support to arrive at a decision such as the one that must be adopted, which highlights the complexity of the circumstances in which the events that ended in the victim's death would have developed."

Source: elclarin.cl, June 14, 2017