The Supreme Court has issued a final judgment in the investigation into the aggravated kidnappings of Juan Maino Canales, Elizabeth Rekas Urra, and Antonio Elizondo Omaechea, crimes perpetrated starting on May 26, 1976, at the clandestine detention center of Villa Grimaldi and later transferred to the former Colonia Dignidad, where their trail was lost.

In a split decision, the Second Chamber of the country's highest court—composed of ministers Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas—granted the appeal filed against the resolution issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, modifying it in its civil aspect.

Regarding the criminal aspect, the highest court ratified the sentences of 10 years and one day of imprisonment for Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda and Carlos López , as authors of the aggravated kidnappings, and the sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment for Eugenio Fieldhouse Orrego , as an accomplice.

Furthermore, the Criminal Chamber confirmed the acquittal in favor of former Colonia Dignidad members Gerard Mucke and Johan van Den Berg, and DINA agent Rolf Wenderoth Pozo. In this regard, the ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Dolmestch and Cisternas, who were in favor of applying the statute of limitations (media prescripción) in the case.

In the civil aspect, it was determined that the state treasury must pay an indemnity of 90 million pesos to each of the three relatives of the victims of human rights violations. “In this city of Santiago, at approximately 10:00 PM on May 26, 1976, agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) detained Juan Bosco Maino Canales at the residence located at Avenida Diagonal Los Presidentes, currently Ignacio Carrera Pinto, No. 143–B, apartment 2, in the commune of Ñuñoa,” the ruling states.

It adds that “at the time of the detention of the victim Juan Bosco Maino Canales, he had his Citroneta parked, in which he was traveling and which was stolen from him by the perpetrators. On that same occasion, Elizabeth de las Mercedes Rekas Urra, who was four months pregnant, and her husband Antonio Elizondo Ormaechea were also detained (...) the deprivation of liberty of the victims Juan Bosco Maino Canales, Elizabeth de las Mercedes Rekas Urra, and Antonio Elizondo Ormaechea occurred without any order based on legal grounds and was formally outside of all legality.” “These abductions were carried out in application of a policy that contemplated a direct attack on the freedom and dignity of individuals and on the very notion of humanity, insofar as they knew that the victims belonged to the MAPU movement, which was politically opposed to the military regime of the time that had governed the country since September 11, 1973; thus, the victims had suffered stalking and surveillance before their captures and, ultimately, since the day of the abduction they have remained forcibly disappeared, just as the perpetrators had planned, the resolution maintains ,” it concludes. by Javier Cisterna

Source: biobio.cl, November 14, 2014

Supreme Court issues sentence for DINA kidnappings at Villa Grimaldi and Colonia Dignidad

The Supreme Court has issued a final judgment in the investigation into the aggravated kidnappings of Juan Maino Canales, Elizabeth Rekas Urra, and Antonio Elizondo Omaechea, crimes perpetrated starting on May 26, 1976, at the clandestine detention center of Villa Grimaldi and later transferred to the former Colonia Dignidad, where their trail is lost.

In a split decision, the Second Chamber of the country's highest court—composed of ministers Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas—granted the appeal filed against the resolution issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, modifying it in its civil aspect.

Regarding the criminal aspect, the highest court ratified the sentences of 10 years and one day of imprisonment for Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda and Carlos López, as authors of the aggravated kidnappings, and the sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment for Eugenio Fieldhouse Orrego, as an accomplice to the crimes.

Furthermore, the Criminal Chamber confirmed the acquittal in favor of former Colonia Dignidad members Gerard Mucke and Johan van Den Berg, and DINA agent Rolf Wenderoth Pozo. In this regard, the ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Dolmestch and Cisternas, who were in favor of applying the statute of limitations in the case.

In the civil aspect, it was determined that the state treasury must pay an indemnity of $90,000,000 (ninety million pesos) to each of the three relatives of the victims of human rights violations. The first-instance ruling, issued by the visiting judge Jorge Zepeda Arancibia, had convicted the colonists Mucke and Van Den Berg.

In the investigation, Judge Zepeda managed to determine the following facts: “In this city of Santiago, at approximately 10:00 PM on May 26, 1976, agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) detained Juan Bosco Maino Canales at the residence located at Avenida Diagonal Los Presidentes, currently Ignacio Carrera Pinto, No. 143–B, apartment 2, in the commune of Ñuñoa.

At the time of the detention of the victim Juan Bosco Maino Canales, he had his ‘Citroneta’—a Citroën vehicle, model AX 330—parked, in which he was traveling and which was stolen from him by the perpetrators.

On that same occasion, Elizabeth de las Mercedes Rekas Urra, who was four months pregnant, and her husband Antonio Elizondo Ormaechea were also detained (...) the deprivation of liberty of the victims Juan Bosco Maino Canales, Elizabeth de las Mercedes Rekas Urra, and Antonio Elizondo Ormaechea occurred without any order based on legal grounds and was formally outside of all legality; and these abductions were carried out in application—by the security agency known as the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and its collaborators—of a policy that contemplated a direct attack on the freedom and dignity of individuals and on the very notion of humanity, insofar as they knew that the victims belonged to the MAPU movement, which was politically opposed to the military regime of the time that had governed the country since September 11, 1973; thus, the victims had suffered stalking and surveillance before their captures and, ultimately, since the day of the abduction they have remained forcibly disappeared, just as the perpetrators had planned,” the resolution maintains. The relations between the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and “Colonia Dignidad,” optimized by the agreement between State agents and the organization of German colonists in the persecution, kidnapping, torture, and disappearance of opponents of the military regime, allowed the State agents who deprived the victims of their liberty to count on the collaboration of “Colonia Dignidad” to definitively make the victims disappear. The ruling adds: “At the same time, the State agents, members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), in order to commit these crimes, maintained various relations with the so-called ‘Colonia Dignidad,’ which had adopted the name ‘Sociedad Benefactora y Educacional Dignidad,’ located on the former ‘El Lavadero’ estate, commonly known as ‘Colonia Dignidad,’ situated in the interior of the city of Parral (...) Furthermore, the relations between the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and ‘Colonia Dignidad,’ optimized by the agreement between State agents and the organization of German colonists in the persecution, kidnapping, torture, and disappearance of opponents of the military regime, allowed the State agents who deprived the victims of their liberty to count on the collaboration of ‘Colonia Dignidad’ to definitively make the victims disappear, and in that disappearance, they included the vehicles that these and other victims possessed and which were stolen from them, using for such purposes the ‘Colonia Dignidad’ property, where they were buried; in effect, the ‘Colonia Dignidad’ property was used for the training of State agents and the criminal ends they had undertaken, and within that context, after September 11, 1973, the sector known as the ‘potato storage’ (acopio de las papas) was used in ‘Colonia Dignidad,’ a site chosen to abduct civilians opposed to the military regime outside of all legality. (...) in execution of the plan of aid and cooperation, the leader of ‘Colonia Dignidad’ and its hierarchs supported the maintenance and use of vehicles with characteristics similar to those stolen from the forcibly disappeared persons previously identified; furthermore, the ringleaders, with the full acceptance of the State agents, used the colonists and ordered the manufacture of weapons such as machine guns, submachine guns with silencers, grenades, and other unspecified weapons, with samples of the reinforced concrete deposits used to hide said prohibited weapons in the possession of private individuals still remaining at the site.”

Source: resumen.cl, November 15, 2014

Former DINA chief convicted for kidnapping of three victims at former Colonia Dignidad

SANTIAGO/TALCA.—

The Supreme Court has issued a final judgment in the investigation into the aggravated kidnappings of Juan Maino Canales, Elizabeth Rekas Urra, and Antonio Elizondo Omaechea, perpetrated in 1976 at the clandestine detention center of Villa Grimaldi, in Santiago, and at the former Colonia Dignidad, in Parral.

In a split decision, the second criminal chamber—composed of ministers Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas—granted the appeal filed against the resolution issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, modifying it in its civil aspect.

Regarding the criminal aspect, the highest court ratified the sentences of 10 years and one day of imprisonment for the former DINA chief, Manuel Contreras, along with Carlos López, both as authors of the aggravated kidnappings. To them is added the sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment for Eugenio Fieldhouse Orrego, as an accomplice to the crimes.

INDEMNITY

In parallel, the criminal chamber confirmed the acquittal in favor of the former Colonia Dignidad hierarchs, Gerard Mucke and Johan van Den Berg, as well as DINA agent Rolf Wenderoth. In this regard, the ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of two ministers who were in favor of applying the statute of limitations.

In civil matters, it was determined that the state treasury must pay an indemnity of ninety million pesos to each of the three relatives of the victims of human rights violations. The first-instance ruling, issued by the visiting judge, Jorge Zepeda, had convicted the colonists Mucke and Van Den Berg.

In the investigation, Judge Zepeda managed to determine that “the Colonia Dignidad property was used for the training of State agents and criminal ends, and within that context, after September 11, 1973, the sector known as the ‘potato storage’ was used to abduct civilians opposed to the military regime.”

Source: diarioelcentro.cl, November 15, 2014

AMCD laments exoneration of former German hierarchs in the Maino, Rekas, and Elizondo case

The Association for Memory and Human Rights Colonia Dignidad (AMCD) expresses its deep dissatisfaction with the sentence issued by the Supreme Court in the investigation into the aggravated kidnapping of Juan Maino, Elizabeth Rekas, and Antonio Elizondo in May 1976, in which the former German hierarchs Gerard Mücke and Karl van Den Berg are exonerated of all responsibility, sentencing only Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda and Carlos López as authors, as well as Eugenio Fieldhouse Orrego as an accomplice.

Although Judge Jorge Zepeda convicted Mücke and Van Den Berg in the first instance, both the Santiago Court of Appeals and now the Supreme Court considered that the participation of these colonists could not be proven in the investigation, and therefore acquitted them.

This ruling continues the serious situation of de facto impunity for the perpetrators of Colonia Dignidad, where to this day no colonist has been sentenced to effective prison time for the torture and murders committed in the German enclave.

While the DINA leadership—deservedly—accumulates sentences, we are faced with the paradox that those colonists who declared before the justice system their extensive knowledge regarding torture, mass executions, and the burning of bodies in the framework of the “television set removal operation” (operativo retiro de televisores) in Colonia Dignidad are acquitted because they claim innocence and ignorance regarding the identity of the victims and their material killers.

In this deeply unsatisfactory context, we call on the Judiciary to deepen investigations and to end the pact of silence among the authors and accomplices of these crimes against humanity, by summoning them repeatedly to testify.

At the same time, we request to clear up the doubt regarding whether there were “protected witnesses” among the colonists in existing investigations who received certain benefits and mitigating factors for supposedly showing a willingness to collaborate with the investigations.

We also call for taking into consideration new evidence that has emerged in recent years to advance the investigations, such as a rigorous analysis of the archive of files and varied documentation confiscated in Colonia Dignidad.

At the same time, the AMCD wishes to express its confidence in the investigations initiated by Judge Mario Carroza, which include new excavations in search of documentation and graves where forcibly disappeared persons were allegedly buried.

We call on the Judiciary to rise to the level of its historical responsibility toward the thousands of victims of the civil-military dictatorship by determining sentences that are truly in accordance with the gravity of the crimes committed by State agents in collaboration with the former hierarchs of what was one of the largest and longest-lasting centers for kidnapping, torture, and extermination of opponents of the regime of Augusto Pinochet.

Source: coloniadignidad.cl, November 24, 2014