A retired (R) Lieutenant Colonel of the Carabineros and five retired (R) non-commissioned officers of the same institution, in addition to one civilian, were convicted by the visiting judge of Temuco, Fernando Carreño, for the kidnapping and disappearance in Pitrufquén in September 1973 of Enrique Tenorio Fuentes, a socialist teacher; Luis Calfuquir Villalón, administrator of the Pitrufquén hospital; and Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz, an agent of the Banco del Estado in that town.

Those convicted in the first-instance sentence are retired Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Moreno Mena (15 years, perpetrator), retired non-commissioned officers Reinaldo Lukowiak Luppy (15 years, perpetrator), Hugo Catalán Lagos (15 years, perpetrator), Domingo Silva Soto (15 years, perpetrator), Germán Fernández Torres (5 years, perpetrator), and Nadir Guzmán Pincheira (3 years, accessory).

The civilian Heriberto Babilek Budic received a sentence of 3 years and one day as an accessory. Only Guzmán and Babilek were granted the benefit of supervised release.

Source: La Nacion, October 4, 2007

Supreme Court issues final sentence for dictatorship crimes in Pitrufquén

The Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court issued a final sentence for the aggravated kidnapping of Einar Tenorio Fuentes and Luis Calfuquir Villalón, and the aggravated homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz, which occurred starting September 15, 1973, in the town of Pitrufquén, La Araucanía Region.

In a split decision, the highest court ruled the following sentences: 3 years and one day for Reinaldo Lukowiak Luppy; 729 days for Carlos Moreno Mena, Hugo Nibaldo Catalán Lagos, Domingo Silva Soto, and Germán Fernández Torres; 200 days for Nadir Guzmán Pincheira and Heriberto Babileck Druding.

All those convicted were granted the benefit of supervised release. This ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Nibaldo Segura and Rubén Ballesteros, who were of the opinion that the statute of limitations should apply to the criminal action.

Likewise, in the civil sphere, the same judges rejected the payment of that sum by accepting the plea of lack of jurisdiction of the court.

Source: La Nacion, December 23, 2009

Supreme Court issues sentence in human rights case

In the civil aspect, the State Treasury must pay an indemnity of 75 million pesos to Verónica Tenorio, daughter of Einar Tenorio. The Supreme Court issued a final sentence in the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of Einar Tenorio Fuentes and Luis Calfuquir Villalón, and the aggravated homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz, which occurred starting September 15, 1973, in the town of Pitrufquén, La Araucanía Region.

In a split decision (in case file 5233-2008), ministers Nibaldo Segura, Rubén Ballesteros, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, and acting lawyer Nelson Pozo determined the following sanctions:

THE SENTENCES

For Carlos Moreno Mena: 729 days of imprisonment for the kidnapping of Einar Tenorio Fuentes, and 3 years and one day of imprisonment for the aggravated homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz. The benefit of supervised release was granted.

For Reinaldo Lukowiak Luppy: 3 years and one day of imprisonment for the kidnappings of Einar Tenorio Fuentes and Luis Calfuquir Villalón. The benefit of supervised release was granted. For Hugo Nibaldo Catalán Lagos: 729 days of imprisonment for the kidnapping of Luis Calfuquir Villalón, and 3 years and one day of imprisonment for the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz.

The benefit of supervised release was granted. For Domingo Silva Soto: 729 days of imprisonment for the kidnapping of Luis Calfuquir Villalón, and 3 years and one day of imprisonment for the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz.

The benefit of supervised release was granted. For Germán Fernández Torres: 729 days of imprisonment for the kidnapping of Luis Calfuquir Villalón. The benefit of conditional remission of the sentence was granted.

For Nadir Guzmán Pincheira: 200 days of imprisonment as an accessory to the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz. The benefit of conditional remission of the sentence was granted. Finally, for Heriberto Babileck Druding, a sentence of 200 days of imprisonment was given as an accessory to the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz.

The benefit of conditional remission of the sentence was granted. In the civil aspect, the State Treasury of Chile was ordered to pay $75,000,000 (seventy-five million pesos) to Verónica Tenorio Aguilera, daughter of Einar Tenorio Fuentes, as compensation for moral damages.

In the criminal aspect, the decision was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Segura and Ballesteros, who were of the opinion that the statute of limitations should apply to the criminal action; meanwhile, in the civil aspect, the same ministers determined to reject the payment and accept the plea of lack of jurisdiction of the court.

Source: Elaustraltemuco.cl, December 23, 2009

Two former Carabineros convicted for the crime of an agricultural worker in Pitrufquén in 1973

The minister for extraordinary cases of human rights violations for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, convicted two former Carabineros officials for their responsibility in the consummated crime of aggravated homicide of agricultural worker Pedro Curihual Paillán, as a crime against humanity.

The crime was committed at the 5th Police Station (Quinta Comisaría) of Pitrufquén in September 1973. Darío Núñez In the ruling (case file 29.876), Minister Mesa Latorre sentenced the former officer who, at the time of the events, was a Carabinero Lieutenant, Carlos Hernán Moreno Mena, to 12 years of effective imprisonment, plus the legal accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from public offices and political rights, and absolute disqualification from professional titles for the duration of the sentence.

Meanwhile, former Carabinero Germán Fernández Torres, as an accessory to the crime, must serve 541 days of effective imprisonment, with the accessory penalty of suspension from public office for the duration of the sentence.

Pedro Curihual Paillán, 25 years old, agricultural laborer, union leader, and sympathizer of the Salvador Allende government, residing in the 'Loica' rural sector of the Pitrufquén commune, was detained on September 15, 1973, in the morning hours, while walking with his partner through the town's Plaza de Armas.

Curihual Paillán had gone to the town with the intention of presenting himself at the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén due to a military decree that mentioned his name among the people who had to turn themselves in to the de facto authorities.

However, before completing that act, he was seized in the plaza by at least 2 Carabineros who descended from a private pickup truck, immediately blindfolding him and handcuffing his wrists behind his back, before forcing him into the back of the vehicle, which then headed toward the aforementioned police station.

His partner was not the only witness to these events; various people, acquaintances, and relatives of the victim also observed the worker's detention from a distance. Because of this, on the same day of the detention, three of his sisters went around 6:00 PM to the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén, where an official informed them that Pedro was indeed being held, which is why they requested authorization to bring him food and warm clothing; the official agreed to the request, however, upon returning with the items, the same officer told them that Pedro was no longer there, without providing them with any certain information regarding the situation and whereabouts of their brother. Pedro Curihual Paillán was indeed admitted to the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén and taken to the second floor of the unit's stables, a place where, starting September 11, 1973, they held people arrested for political reasons. In this place, in the early hours of September 16, 1973, Pedro Curihual was seen by Mrs. Elena Henríquez Henríquez, who had also been detained on September 15 after having gone to the police station to ask about her husband, who had been arrested at their home on September 14. Armando Curihual, Pedro's father, like his siblings, began a fruitless search in different detention centers in the area, even inquiring again weeks later at the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén, where they claimed his son was not among the detainees; in addition to going to other facilities such as prisons, hospitals, and military barracks in the city of Temuco, without obtaining any result or information about his whereabouts. On March 20, 1979, his sister Fresia Curihual filed a complaint with the Pitrufquén Court of Letters, without achieving any results, which is why Pedro Curihual's relatives and friends never again received news about his fate. After September 11, 1973, the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén increased its staff with smaller units that retreated to that facility from smaller outposts, all of them sleeping in that police barracks, as a superior order forced them to remain in a state of confinement. In command of this reinforced unit was Captain Ramón Callis Soto (deceased), who organized and coordinated a special group of Carabineros composed of officials from the unit, among whom was Lieutenant Carlos Hernán Moreno Mena, who was second in command; Major Non-Commissioned Officer Reinaldo Alberto Lukowiak Luppy, third in the hierarchy; as well as Carabineros Germán Fernández Torres, Domingo Antonio Silva Soto (deceased), and Hernán Mella Lagos (deceased), among others. These officials, under the orders of the aforementioned officer, proceeded to detain people who had political ties or social relevance considered to be opponents of the military regime. The arrested people were taken in private pickup trucks provided for those purposes by the repressive police to the 5th Police Station of Pitrufquén. At that police station, the detainees were brought in through a "false" door, not being registered in the guard logs, to be immediately taken to the second floor of the unit's stables. In that facility, the political detainees were tied up, gagged, and blindfolded, to then be physically tortured through the application of kicks, punches, and electric shocks to different parts of their bodies. Under those circumstances, many of those detainees were able to confirm that the facility was set up for those purposes and, furthermore, could perceive the presence of other detainees in the same conditions, because, although they were blindfolded, they could hear the noises they made and the screams of pain resulting from the torture to which they were subjected. Only members of this special group, of higher rank and trust of Captain Callis, had access to this facility of kidnapping and torture, and the whereabouts of many of those detainees remain unknown to this day.

Source: resumen.cl, November 26, 2022