Guillermo González de Asís, single, a plumbing installer and member of the MIR, was detained by DINA agents on September 12, 1975, at approximately 09:30 hours on a public street in the Gran Avenida sector, near bus stop 35.

The victim was taken to the DINA interrogation center known as Villa Grimaldi, located at José Arrieta 8200, where he was seen by several prisoners who were later released. All of them agree that González was kept in a type of drawer-like structure where he was shackled, and in these conditions, he was taken to the bathroom every day, which was when they could see him.

He was easily identifiable when this happened, as the chains made a very specific noise and he had to move by hopping. Despite the precarious conditions in which he was held, whenever he could, he would make gestures to the other prisoners to indicate that he was okay.

During one of these trips to the bathroom, he identified himself as "Paulino"—the name by which he was known in the MIR—to one of the detainees, Gilda Bravo, using the manual alphabet.

In Villa Grimaldi, he was also seen by Julio Cortés Guerra, Nelson Fernández Sepúlveda, Patricio Bustos Streeter, and Roberto Gómez Donoso. The latter spent one night in the same room as González.

Among the women who saw him, in addition to Gilda Bravo, were Carmen Fuentes Arenas, Isabel Sartore Triviño, Patricia Amengual Muñoz, and Delia Veraguas Segura.

Patricio Bustos was the health officer for the MIR at the time of his arrest and had known Guillermo González from before, having worked with him on occasion. He recalls that the victim was placed in "the tower," a section of Villa Grimaldi where prisoners considered most dangerous were held and tortured on-site.

According to Bustos, there was news of González de Asís until October 1975, although they stopped seeing him being taken to the bathroom at the end of September of that year.

According to witnesses, the guards constantly mocked the victim due to his name and also because he had dyed his hair a reddish color, which became more noticeable as the days passed.

Guillermo González had been intensely sought since January 1975, the date his home was raided by DINA agents. That same month, the home of his sister, Margarita González, was also raided by armed civilians who were asking for him.

Finally, days after he was detained, between September 13 and 16 of the same year, civilians who identified themselves as belonging to the DINA raided the home of his sister, Clementina.

Also that same month, on January 14, 1975, María Teresa Villalobos Díaz was detained by the DINA and taken to Villa Grimaldi. There, she was interrogated regarding Guillermo González's whereabouts and was even threatened with being kept in detention until he appeared.

Teresa Villalobos notes that, based on the questions they asked her regarding her friend, she could tell that the DINA had a great deal of information about him. She also learned that several other detainees who were in Villa Grimaldi at that time had been interrogated in relation to González de Asís.

María Teresa Villalobos remained in that secret facility for two weeks, being transferred to Cuatro Alamos and then to Tres Alamos, from where she was released in September 1976. While at Tres Alamos, she learned of the victim's detention.

Guillermo González was part of the GAP, the personal security detail for former President Salvador Allende, in 1971. Despite the evidence of his detention, it was denied by the authorities, and he has been forcibly disappeared since he was arrested by the DINA in September 1975.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On January 27, 1976, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on his behalf before the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 92-76.

The Court rejected a request to summon witnesses of his confinement in Villa Grimaldi, as well as the request to officially notify the DINA to provide information regarding the detainee.

With only the response from the Minister of the Interior, who denied the victim's detention, the writ was rejected on February 11, 1976. This resolution was appealed to the Supreme Court, which confirmed the ruling.

On February 26, 1976, his sister, Celia González, filed a criminal complaint for the crimes of illegal arrest and unlawful incommunicado detention before the 11th Criminal Court of Santiago, case file 5463-13.

The Judge issued a broad order for the civil police to investigate in order to determine the exact location of Villa Grimaldi, the authority responsible for the facility, and the victim's detention. He even authorized the raiding of the property if necessary.

In parallel, the Judge officially requested the Minister of the Interior to report whether the operation of that place as a detention center under the DINA was authorized.

In June of that year, the Investigations police reported that Villa Grimaldi existed and was under the charge of the DINA, but that it was not possible for them to comply with the rest of the investigation order, without providing reasons.

However, General César Benavides, Minister of the Interior, responded to the Court by sending a list of the "only detention centers in use under the powers of the state of siege, according to D.S. 146...", among which Villa Grimaldi was not included.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that González did not appear on the National List of Dangerous Persons nor on the List of Asylees and Refugees.

On July 28, 1976, the Court resolved to constitute itself at the DINA headquarters to interrogate the Director of that organization regarding the reported events and the circumstances under which they occurred.

However, this procedure was never carried out, despite its fulfillment being requested on two occasions. More than a year later, in November 1977, its execution was ordered through the Military Judge of Santiago, but it was not carried out either.

It should be added that eight witnesses to his stay in Villa Grimaldi testified before the Court, all of whom were brought from Tres Alamos, where they were being held at the time the procedure was carried out.

On January 3, 1978, the Judge declared himself incompetent and referred the records to the Military Justice system. The Court accepted to continue the investigation, entering the file under case number 18-78 in the 2nd Military Prosecutor's Office.

On May 23, 1978, the Military Judge of Santiago resolved to issue a definitive dismissal of the case by virtue of the Amnesty Decree Law 2191, which had been recently issued in April of that same year by the Military Junta.

This ruling was appealed, and on December 1 of the same year, the Court Martial confirmed the dismissal but changed it to a temporary one, considering that there were no elements of conviction to prove that the disappearance of Guillermo González was the result of a criminal act.

A complaint was filed before the Supreme Court against the Ministers who confirmed the dismissal, pointing out that there was more than enough evidence demonstrating that the victim was the subject of an arbitrary and illegal detention by DINA personnel and, furthermore, that there were pending procedures, including the constitution of the Court at the DINA headquarters, which had been decreed on July 28, 1976.

Finally, on April 25, 1980, the Supreme Court rejected the complaint, leaving the temporary dismissal of the case investigating the disappearance of Guillermo González de Asís as final.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity

Along with his partner, he was beaten and experienced the brutality of the dictatorship at Villa Grimaldi. The doctor heard the military officer's shouts; orders that became the clearest face of the repression.

He endured the pain of being subjected to the electric grill, also alongside his partner. Of being tortured at the same time. The public official decided not to remain silent. If you still do not know why the tribute to Krassnoff caused indignation, here is an answer.

The noon of September 10, 1975, was falling warmly over Manuel Montt and Providencia. Dr. Patricio Bustos was 24 years old at the time, working in a clinical laboratory, and had a partner who was a dentist.

Both had been members of the MIR in Concepción; he was even president of the Faculty of Medicine.

It was then, that afternoon, that the date of September 10 would become painful forever. And when the face and name of Miguel Krassnoff would be etched in blood in his head, on his body.

What can a man tortured by a criminal feel when he knows that 38 years later a handful of people want to pay tribute to him?

-Indignation.

It is the first thing the professional at the head of the Legal Medical Service (SML) responds, who also sees human rights issues every day. Not only those related to the Dictatorship; also those of the prisoners who died in the San Miguel prison, those who died on a highway, or in Juan Fernández. -Indignation.

No other word fits –he repeats–. I was indignant like many people. I relived what happened to me and my partner and other people who were in the hands of that criminal, who was not alone. He was with Marcelo Moren, with Osvaldo Romo, with the work done by Manuel Contreras, who would go to Villa Grimaldi.

I relived what those minutes were like, but at the same time, the solidarity reaction that came from people who fortunately were not in the hands of the repression spoke well of a republican, citizen decency.

The new generations repudiated such a well-known representative of the dictatorial barbarism. In Chile, there is the persistence of Pinochet-supporting journalism, a Pinochet-supporting priest, a Pinochet-supporting parliamentarian.

This is built and legitimized, unlike what happens in Germany, where if one makes an apology for Nazism or Hitler, one goes to jail. In Chile, there is a relativism that makes someone say they can hold all the tributes they want to the person who ordered this barbarism.

-Why do you think it is still possible today for a tribute to a criminal to take place?

-First, because the criminal always thought he would be unpunished. Second, because he has accomplices like Mayor Labbé. And I speak of accomplices not in the metaphorical sense, but of people who participated in the same repressive structures.

There is at the same time a moral relativism that is expressed in the phrase of Iván Moreira when he says, ‘I pay tribute to the commander, but I would not attend a tribute to the executor.’ So there is a moral relativism on the part of a sector of the Chilean right that gives space for these things to happen, while we know that there is another sector of the Chilean right that repudiates these acts.

-It also shows that there are still things in Chile that are hidden under the rug.

-It is that there is an ostentation and vindication of the icon of the most brutal repression. So it is a slap in the face not only to the victims but also to the type of country and democracy we want.

This shows that Pinochetism has not ceased to exist and takes advantage of the spaces created from certain situations… In Chile, there is the persistence of Pinochet-supporting journalism, a Pinochet-supporting priest, a Pinochet-supporting parliamentarian.

This is built and legitimized, unlike what happens in Germany, where if one makes an apology for Nazism or Hitler, one goes to jail. In Chile, there is a relativism that makes someone say they can hold all the tributes to the person who ordered this barbarism. That relativism gives way to these situations.

-And how do you evaluate the government's reaction in the response to the letter?

-The first reaction, from the person in charge, was terrible. The supreme ignorance, harmful to the government itself, of someone who does not know the character… I mean, that she does not know that character, that she does not ask or google what that period from 73 to 78 means.

Anyone who knows about Human Rights knows that it is the time of the removal of television sets, when the bodies of the victims are exhumed, dispersed and thrown into the sea, dynamited, made to disappear.

It is a tribute to the most ostentatious period of repressive brutality. So, let's separate: supreme ignorance is harmful. I share the second reaction, which was the resignation of the same person from her position.

The shouts of Krassnoff

After being detained at Manuel Montt, Patricio Bustos was taken to Villa Grimaldi. He was disappeared for seven months. He was tortured in Tres Álamos, Cuatro Álamos, Puchuncaví, and the Almirante Silva Palma barracks in Valparaíso. He was also operated on at the Clínica Santa Lucía, clandestinely.

-What were you operated on for?

-For a hematocele. It is blood between the scrotum and the testicle. That was the result of the beatings, the kicks from "guatón Romo," from Marcelo Moren, and others.

-What do you remember about Krassnoff?

-The tone and his arrogance. Osvaldo Romo and he were the only ones who used their real names. The arrogance of the sense of impunity that they instilled. He would shout and assault people who were tied up, blindfolded, of all ages. Carmen Andrade, the former undersecretary of Sernam, arrived there in her school uniform. Children of two years old, elderly people over 80, mistreated, arrived there.

-You were in the same place of torture with your partner in Villa Grimaldi. How did you experience that?

-Krassnoff tortured us together. They threw us on the electric grill, naked, tied to a metal bed frame with electricity applied. They also stripped me, beat me with feet and hands, and applied electricity; they burned me with cigarettes.

-Did you always know that your torturer was Krassnoff?

-When the Rettig Report was prepared, based on the photographs, they were easily recognizable. I remember his full face. His presence and beatings were systematic and were also for punishment. It was not just a search for information.

Sometimes he would hit us without asking any questions to replace absolute helplessness with an attitude of dignity in front of them. They torture to obtain information and to annul the person, and when they do not achieve both things, they continue to punish for not collaborating.

The integrity with which Patricio Bustos ends his account is overwhelming, moving. He insists that his testimony is no longer from rage or pain. It is a gesture so that the country does not lose its memory.

-Can you turn on your recorder again, please? –he asks– and for the first time his blue eyes tremble.

“The greatest pain is the comrades I am missing: Jorge Fuentes Alarcón, who was with me, who was kidnapped in Paraguay. They took him to Buenos Aires, and in Chile, he disappeared as part of the Operation Condor operation.

I am missing Ignacio Ossa Galdames, a professor at the Catholic University, whom they murdered in front of me. And GUILLERMO GONZALEZ DE ASIS, who was also from the MIR and who disappeared in Villa Grimaldi.

Those are the things that hurt me the most. That is why a list has been circulating since yesterday, which I also sign and which is called ‘I was tortured by Krassnoff,’ with living people. The people he killed cannot speak, but the rest of us remain. And we are not going to be silent because we have nothing to be ashamed of. They do.”

Source: elmostrador.cl 11/22/2011

Date: 11-22-2011

In a unanimous ruling, the highest court granted the appeal for cassation filed by the plaintiffs and, in a replacement judgment, reinstated the sentence that ordered the State to pay $150,000,000 to the siblings of Guillermo González de Asís, who was detained by agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) on September 12, 1975.

The Supreme Court granted the appeal for cassation on the form filed by the plaintiffs and, in a replacement judgment, reinstated the first-instance sentence that ordered the State to pay a total compensation of $150,000,000 (one hundred and fifty million pesos) for moral damages to the siblings of Guillermo González de Asís, who was illegally detained by agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) near bus stop 35 of Gran Avenida José Miguel Carrera on September 12, 1975, and taken to Villa Grimaldi, a clandestine detention center from which his trail was lost.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 269-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos, minister María Teresa Letelier, and lawyer (i) Ricardo Abuauad—established an error in the challenged sentence, issued by the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, for failing to justify the reduction of the compensation amount set in the first instance.

“That the determination of the monetary amount that allows in some way to repair, mitigate, or help cope with the pain caused by the established illicit act must necessarily be carried out prudently, given the impossibility of fixing with any exactitude and certainty the sum that serves those objectives, does not mean that this evaluation is arbitrary and capricious for the jurisdictional body; rather, given the impossibility of concretizing it using uniform and universal formulas, guidelines, or methods for all types of situations, the court must analyze each case based on its specificities and particularities, weighing them with caution and moderation, which certainly gives it greater flexibility for said determination, but which in no way implies releasing it from the duty to express the reasons that led to reaching that conclusion,” the ruling maintains.

The resolution adds: “That, when issuing the challenged sentence in its seventeenth finding, the trial judges reasoned that ‘Regarding the amount of compensation for moral damages set by the first-instance judge, questioned by the State of Chile, it should be noted that although the compensation for moral damage seeks to be comprehensive, the truth is that in no case will it achieve such an objective reliably, insofar as the pain, affliction, and sorrow caused to the victim's family members by the illicit act are not quantifiable, which is why when regulating the quantum of the compensation, sums regulated in other cases for similar acts will be used as a parameter, in relation to the degree of kinship of the plaintiffs with the victim, amounts that will be determined in the operative part of the judgment’.”

“After which—it continues—it confirms the appealed sentence with the declaration that the amount of the compensation is reduced to $20,000,000 (twenty million pesos) for each plaintiff, without analyzing the detail of the background information that led them to decrease the amount ordered to be paid by the State of Chile by the first-instance court, which, given the nature of the challenge formulated, constitutes the omission of the reasoning of the judgment denounced by the appeal.

It must not be forgotten that the compensation for the damage produced by the crime, as well as the action to make it effective, are of maximum importance when administering justice, compromising the public interest and aspects of material justice that allow for progress in ending the conflict.”

For the highest court: “The need for an analysis in this sense emanates from the nature of the compensatory action exercised and from what was stated by the litigants, given that for an adequate resolution of the matter, it was imperative to analyze the damages that the detention, torture, and illegitimate coercion caused to Guillermo González de Asís.”

“The controversy raised dealt precisely with the damages that the agents of the State of Chile, through their actions, caused to the appellant,” it highlights.

“That as can be noted, the ruling incurs in the alleged motivation consecrated in article 541 No. 9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, because it does not comply with the requirement of literal No. 5 of article 500 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which imposes the duty on judges to note the considerations of fact or law that serve as the foundation for the sentence, so that under the noted conditions, the appeal for cassation on the form promoted against the challenged ruling by the plaintiff will be granted,” it concludes.

In the criminal aspect, the Second Chamber confirmed the sentence in the part that sentenced the agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García to 10 years and one day of imprisonment for their responsibility, as authors, of the crime.

Decision agreed upon with the dissenting vote of minister Brito, who was in favor of also granting the appeal for cassation in the criminal part.

Villa Grimaldi

In the first-instance ruling, the visiting minister of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, established the following facts:

“1° That, through Decree Law No. 521, published in the Official Gazette on June 18, 1974, the National Intelligence Directorate was created. 2° That, from that date, the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) was in charge of Army Colonel Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda, currently deceased. 3° That, on September 12, 1975, agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) detained, without legal right, Guillermo González de Asís, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), near bus stop 35 of Gran Avenida José Miguel Carrera. 4° That, subsequently, González de Asís was kept locked up, without legal right, in the clandestine detention center of the National Intelligence Directorate called ‘Villa Grimaldi’, located at José Arrieta No. 8,200 in the commune of Peñalolén, a place where he was subjected to brutal physical abuse by Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Basclay Zapata Reyes, among others, his whereabouts remaining unknown since then. 5° That, at that time, the clandestine detention center of the National Intelligence Directorate called ‘Villa Grimaldi’ was in charge of Army Major Marcelo Moren Brito, currently deceased. 6° That, likewise, in the indicated period, the operational groups ‘Halcón’ and ‘Tucán’ of the Caupolicán Brigade, in charge of Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, respectively, and the Purén Brigade, in charge of Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, operated in ‘Villa Grimaldi’.”

Source: pjud.cl 5/3/2023

Date: 03-05-2023

Minister Marianela Cifuentes issues indictment for kidnapping and application of torture at Villa Grimaldi.

In the resolution, Minister Cifuentes held Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García responsible as authors of the crimes.

The visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, Marianela Cifuentes, issued an indictment against 4 agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for the kidnapping and application of torture of GUILLERMO GONZALEZ DE ASIS, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), committed starting on September 12, 1975, at the clandestine center of Villa Grimaldi.

According to the background information collected during the investigation stage, the visiting minister established the following facts:

1° That on September 12, 1975, around 10:00 hours, Guillermo González de Asís, political name "Mario" or "Paulino", a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement, M.I.R., was detained, without legal right, in the Población Pablo de Rocka, near bus stop 35 of Gran Avenida José Miguel Carrera, by agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), directed by Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda, Army Colonel, currently deceased. 2° That, later, González de Asís was transferred to the detention center called "Villa Grimaldi", located at Avenida José Arrieta No. 8200 in the commune of Peñalolén, in charge of Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, Army Major, currently deceased, and Rolf Wenderoth Pozo, Army Officer, a place where he was kept locked up, without legal right, and subjected to brutal physical treatment, according to testimonies of other detainees who managed to survive, among them, Gilda de las Mercedes Bravo Riffo, María Gloria de Luján Sartore Triviño, Nelson Seguel Fernández Sepúlveda, Roberto Esteban Gómez Donoso, Julio Edmundo Cortez Guerra, Jorge Lastra Torres, Delia Susana Veraguas Segura, Carmen Gricelda Fuentes Arends, María Cecilia Bottai Monreal, and Edwin Patricio Bustos Streeter, his whereabouts remaining unknown until now. 3° That, likewise, in the referred temporal context, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, Army Captain and Chief of the "Halcón" Group; Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Army Officer and Chief of the "Purén" Operational Group; and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Lieutenant of the Carabineros of Chile and Operational Chief of the "Tucán" Group, served in the detention center called "Villa Grimaldi" in the operational area.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 29/10/2018

Date: 10-29-2018

Confrontations between victims and former DINA agents of Villa Grimaldi.

Former prisoners who were tortured in the detention centers of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) faced their aggressors: Osvaldo Romo Mena, Basclay Zapata, and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko.

The proceeding carried out by Minister Gabriela Pérez while she was substituting for investigating judge Juan Guzmán provided crucial testimonies for the investigation of human rights violations committed at Villa Grimaldi.

"I witnessed the torture of Patricio Bustos and I can attest that it was carried out by Marcelo Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff, Basclay Zapata, and Tulio Pereira," states the former DINA agent, Osvaldo Romo Mena (el Guatón Romo), in a chilling confrontation with the former prisoner of Villa Grimaldi, Edwin Patricio Bustos Streeter.

Former detainee Patricio Bustos specifies on page 4,014 of the process: "I recognize Osvaldo Romo, who detained me on the public thoroughfare, transferring me to Villa Grimaldi. They took me to the house in the Villa and to La Torre (the place where the most violent tortures were applied).

I was tortured by Krassnoff, Zapata, Tulio Pereira, Moren Brito, and Romo. While inside La Torre, they stripped me and applied the 'Pau Arara', which consisted of placing us naked with our legs and arms tied and curled up, to then put a pipe between them, and thus, totally immobilized and defenseless, they applied electricity to us."

In this regard, Romo confirms: "I was part of the team that detained Bustos. This group was commanded by Basclay Zapata," and adds: "I witnessed the torture of Patricio Bustos and I can attest that it was carried out by Moren Brito, Krassnoff, Zapata, and Pereira."

But the former prisoner refutes the statements, pointing out: "I don't know the previous division of labor of the DINA; what I do know is that there was a mixture of functions because I saw agents who decided on the detentions but at the same time also tortured.

The division of functions they speak of was not that effective. This man not only witnessed, but also tortured. He was the only torturer who liked to be seen; he even lifted my blindfold and asked me if I recognized him." Patricio Bustos's statement points out that on one occasion "Manuel Contreras arrived at the facility to inspect the center's operation."

Bustos indicates on page 4,016 of the Guzmán process: "I know Mr. Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko. I have seen him on two occasions, one at Villa Grimaldi and another in a confrontation with former minister Olivares.

I met him when he tortured me at Villa Grimaldi, a place where he also tortured my wife Cecilia Bottai and Susana Beragua, Nelson Fernández, Sergio Cortés, Georgina Ocaranza, Mauricio Galaz, María Sartori, Cecilia Mazzela, among others." He was part of the team that tortured Guillermo González de Asís, detained in September 1975, currently forcibly disappeared.

Likewise—he adds—he was part of the team responsible for Jorge Fuentes Alarcón, detained in the framework of Operation Condor in Paraguay and transferred to Villa Grimaldi, where he disappeared. He also participated in the torture of professor Ignacio Ossa Galdames, who died at Villa Grimaldi and whose body was abandoned on the public thoroughfare simulating a traffic accident."

But according to Krassnoff, the facts are false: "I never had responsibilities related to the detail this person mentions," and even facing the desperate cry of Bustos who specifies: "You were the first one who tortured me.

Marcelo Moren Brito being present. You hit me in the ears and for the first time I knew what torture was." And the accused's response is only a brief "I categorically reject what this person has stated."

Patricio Bustos, upon repeating the same charges and complaints against Basclay Zapata, alias El Troglo, must settle for an evasive response that only states: "I insist, what he says is not true; I never tortured or detained anyone."

The testimony of Chanfreau's wife

The sudden forgetfulness is also recorded in the confrontation that Erika Cecilia Hennings Cepeda, wife of the disappeared MIR leader Alfonso Chanfreau, holds with Romo Mena.

The former detainee recounts that she was subjected to torture sessions by Romo: "I remember he hit me in the ears, known as the 'telephone', in addition to touching my body."

"The lady is lying, because at that time I was dedicated to locating the houses of high-ranking MIR leaders. I remember they detained this lady, Moren Brito, Krassnoff, Gerardo Godoy, Lawrence, among others," states the accused, who in any case confirms that his work was something more than locating people, as he points out: "I only took her when the bosses asked for her."

Upon appearing with Erika Hennings, Krassnoff explains that he ordered her detention after the apprehension of her husband. During her period in the hands of the repressive forces, the victim points out that she was at Londres 38—another DINA detention facility—where she was subjected to multiple aggressions in the presence of her spouse.

For Krassnoff, the reality is different, as he asserts that he only performed duties as an intelligence analyst and, therefore, any "operational" activity was incompatible with his work.

In the case of Katia Alexandra Reszczynski Padilla's confrontation with Krassnoff, there is a notable advance in the accused's memories, who maintains that "I effectively spoke with several people detained at Londres 38, identifying myself by my name. My function had nothing to do with torture and interrogations. They were a sort of inquiry to obtain information about the MIR."

The accused emphasizes that "I was in the DINA in my capacity as a lieutenant and at the beginning of my rank as captain. I never heard or received an order or provision related to exterminations, deaths, torture, or similar things."

Internal contradictions: former agent speaks

Within the same confrontation, a former agent participated who, without hesitation, provides data on Basclay Zapata's participation in the DINA detention centers.

Samuel Enrique Fuenzalida Devia specifies that "I have known Zapata since the time they brought me from Calama to the Rocas de Santo Domingo for an intelligence course. I met him again at Londres 38 and Rinconada de Maipú.

In the first place, we were both operatives. We both stood guard and watched the detainees. In the Villa Grimaldi barracks, I performed guard and maintenance duties, and sometimes I was entrusted with watching the detainees."

The testimony adds that "at Villa Grimaldi we had several bosses and the last one was Moren Brito. Basclay Zapata was part of the group commanded by Krassnoff and also included Romo Mena. It was an operational group. When I was on guard duty, I saw Basclay Zapata driving the vehicle that transported Krassnoff and Romo. These were operatives."

Zapata's response confirms in part, but in substance, what the former agent said: "I know this gentleman and I remember he stood guard at Villa Grimaldi. I did not stand guard at that place. I effectively transported Krassnoff and Romo during my time in the DINA, but only to take advantage of the vehicle and nothing more. I did not detain or torture."

He insists that he was never part of special DINA brigades, such as Halcón, and states that "I knew Krassnoff and Moren Brito as Army officers, nothing more (...) I acknowledge having been in the DINA and at Villa Grimaldi, but I was not an operative."

Source: Primera Linea August 22, 2001

Date: 08-22-2001

Human Rights: After 45 years there is justice for «Paulino» and a new conviction for Krassnoff

On Thursday, June 1, the visiting minister extraordinary of the Court of Appeals of San Miguel, with exclusive dedication to Human Rights cases, Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón, issued her conviction in the case for the crimes of kidnapping and torture applied against Guillermo González de Asís, starting on September 12, 1975.

Guillermo González de Asís, known by the political name of «Paulino», was detained in the Gran Avenida sector, near bus stop 35, by agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA). He was taken to the Villa Grimaldi torture center, where other prisoners managed to see him until he was forcibly disappeared.

Today, Guillermo González, who was part of the personal guard of former President Allende in 1971, belongs to the list of more than 1,200 forcibly disappeared persons left by the military dictatorship in Chile.

The ruling sentenced Rolf Gonzalo Wenderoth Pozo, former Colonel of the Chilean Army and chief of the Main Staff of the Metropolitan Intelligence Brigade (BIM); and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, former Brigadier of the Chilean Army and chief of the Halcón group of the DINA's Caupolicán Brigade, in charge of "dismantling" the MIR, as authors of the crime of qualified kidnapping, in a consummated degree, to the penalty of 10 years of major imprisonment in its minimum degree.

Both have been in preventive detention for this case since October 2015, which will serve as time served. However, Krassnoff is already sentenced to more than 300 years for other crimes against human rights.

Meanwhile, two other individuals investigated in this case: Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, former Division General of the Chilean Army and chief of the DINA's Purén operational group; and Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, former Lieutenant Colonel of the Carabineros of Chile and operational chief of the Tucán group, were acquitted.

However, the four mentioned are serving sentences at the Punta Peuco Penitentiary Compliance Center of the Chilean Gendarmerie for other crimes against humanity. Although the sentence establishes that during the indicated period the Tucán operational group of the Caupolicán Brigade, in charge of Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, and the Purén Brigade, in charge of Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, operated in Villa Grimaldi, there is no "sufficient evidence" to attribute to the two accused any degree of participation in the kidnapping of Guillermo, or in relation to his final destination.

In any case, Iturriaga must serve more than 70 years in prison for crimes against human rights. Godoy, in the same way, must serve several decades of sentencing as well.

In the sentence, the testimony of prisoners who were witnesses at Villa Grimaldi to the presence and torture of Guillermo González was taken into account. María Cecilia Bottai Monreal, a prisoner and torture victim at the same site, testifies to having seen González de Asís being beaten when they were leading him from the "grill" to the bathroom, blindfolded, very beaten, and moving in small jumps because he had his feet shackled.

The "grill" was a metal bed frame where electricity was applied to the detainees. Her testimony coincides with that of 8 direct witnesses who were also victims of kidnapping and torture at the scene, in addition to 4 indirect witnesses, also victims, who contributed relevant information.

The sentence also rescues the testimony of María Gloria del Luján Sartore Triviño, a prisoner and torture victim at Villa Grimaldi on dates coinciding with those of Guillermo. In her testimony, she recounts that she heard Guillermo González de Asís shout his name out loud so that the other detainees would know he was there and bear witness to it.

Delia Susana Veraguas Segura, also a prisoner and torture victim at the site, recounts that in the week of September 22 to 29, 1975, she saw Guillermo González de Asís dying, very beaten, and with difficulty breathing, his whereabouts remaining unknown since then.

On September 18, 2018, the Association of Relatives of Political Executions published a summary of the ordeal lived by «Paulino», in which it highlights that “he was single, a plumbing installer, a militant of the MIR” and that he was detained by DINA agents on September 12, 1975, around 09:30 hours on the public thoroughfare, in the Gran Avenida sector, near bus stop 35.

There, it is indicated that «Paulino» was taken to the DINA interrogation center known as Villa Grimaldi, located at Calle José Arrieta 8200, where he was seen by several prisoners who later regained their freedom.

All of them coincide in pointing out that González was placed in some kind of drawer-like structures where they kept him shackled and, in these conditions, he was taken to the bathroom every day, an opportunity in which they could see him.

He was easily identifiable when this occurred, since the chains emitted a very special noise and he had to advance by jumping. Despite the precarious conditions in which he was kept, when he could, he made gestures to the other prisoners as if indicating that he was okay.

In one of these trips to the bathroom, he identified himself as Paulino, which was the name by which they knew him in the MIR, to one of the detainees, Gilda Bravo, for which he used the alphabet with his hands.

At Villa Grimaldi, he was also seen by Julio Cortés Guerra, Nelson Fernández Sepúlveda, Patricio Bustos Streeter, and Roberto Gómez Donoso. The latter was in the same room as González for one night.

Among the women who saw him are, in addition to Gilda Bravo, Carmen Fuentes Arenas, Isabel Sartore Triviño, Patricia Amengual Muñoz, and Delia Veraguas Segura.

Patricio Bustos was the head of health for the MIR at the time of his arrest and knew Guillermo González from before, with whom he had worked on some occasion. He remembers that the victim was placed in ‘the tower’, a dependency of Villa Grimaldi where the prisoners considered most dangerous were kept.

They were tortured right there. According to Bustos, news of González de Asís was had until the month of October 1975, although they stopped seeing him pass by the bathroom at the end of September of that year.

According to the witnesses, the guards constantly mocked the affected person due to his name and also because he had dyed his hair a reddish color, which was more clearly noticeable as the days went by.

Guillermo González had been intensely sought since January 1975, the date on which his home was raided by DINA agents. That same month, the home of a sister, Margarita González, was also raided by armed civilians who were asking for him.

Finally, days after he was detained, between September 13 and 16 of the same year, civilians who identified themselves as belonging to the DINA raided the home of his sister Clementina. Also that same month, on January 14, 1975, María Teresa Villalobos Díaz was detained by the DINA and taken to Villa Grimaldi.

In this place, she was interrogated about the whereabouts of Guillermo González and they even threatened to keep her detained as long as he did not appear. Teresa Villalobos points out that, due to the questions they asked her regarding her friend, she could realize that the DINA had a lot of information about him.

She also learned that several other detainees who were at Villa Grimaldi at that same time had been interrogated in relation to González de Asís.

María Teresa Villalobos remained in that secret facility for two weeks, being transferred to Cuatro Alamos and later to Tres Alamos, from where she was released in September 1976. While at Tres Alamos, she learned of the detention of the affected person.

The summary concludes by recalling that Guillermo González «was part of the GAP, the personal guard of former President Salvador Allende, in 1971. And despite the evidence of his detention, it was denied by the authorities and he has been forcibly disappeared since he was arrested by the DINA in September 1975».

Source: elciudadano.com 2020