In a split decision, the Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced nine retired military officers for the crime of illegal exhumation in the case known as "Retiro de Televisores" (Removal of Television Sets), in which the bodies of dictatorship victims were unearthed to make them permanently disappear.

The ruling, adopted by judges Cornelio Villarroel, Mario Carroza, and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún, imposes a sentence of 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree, in addition to a fine of 14 UTM, for Hernán Ricardo Canales Varas, José Jaime Darrigrandi Márquez, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, José Nelson Canario Santibáñez, Luis Antonio Fuenzalida Rojas, Darío Ernesto Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Remigio Burgos Díaz, Sergio Antonio Medina Salazar, and Isidoro Custodio Durán Muñoz.

As detailed in the resolution, the bodies unearthed from the Peldehue military facility were those of individuals detained at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, who were then transported to the Tacna Regiment and later executed by firing squad at the Peldehue military facility, in the commune of Colina.

The ruling maintains that "in accordance with the accusation formulated against the defendants, it is necessary to analyze whether the crime of illegal exhumation, given its manner of commission and the participation of public agents, can be classified as a common act within the criminal perspective; or if, due to its characteristics, it can be classified as a crime against humanity, insofar as the removal action constituted the final link in a chain that began with the detention of a group of people at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, of whom those belonging to the Security Detail and Advisors to the Presidency of the Republic were tied hand and foot with wire, loaded onto a military truck, and transported to the Peldehue military fiscal facility. They were then allegedly executed by firing squad by State agents consisting of Officers and Permanent Staff, and finally buried in a dry well into which they were thrown or fell as they were executed, considering that the removal carried out more than five years after said kidnapping and alleged execution constituted the final phase intended to achieve the concealment of the facts." It adds that to establish that the crimes are crimes against humanity, the majority vote of the judges states that "analyzed in light of such background, it appears unequivocally that the described conduct makes evident reference to a link within the chain that formed part of the systematic and generalized attack against members of the civilian population, in accordance with the plan implemented by the military authority that held power, directed essentially at causing fear through the kidnapping or disappearance of persons, conduct carried out by State agents provided with all the power that the de facto situation provided them." It further adds that "this Court considers that we are facing a crime against humanity, as it offends the most intimate feelings of the human being, such as granting their next of kin the right to a Christian burial or a burial worthy of their status as a person, and that for this reason, it contradicts the general principles of law and becomes a concern of the international community."

Source: June 11, 2008 Lanacion.cl

Supreme Court sentences nine former uniformed personnel for Operation Retiro de Televisores

"In the case of crimes against humanity, the non-statute of limitations for these illicit acts, which gravely offend fundamental human rights, arises as a barrier to impunity," states the ruling of the Supreme Court that confirmed the sentence against three former officers and six Army non-commissioned officers who illegally exhumed the bodies of those detained on September 11, 1973, at La Moneda.

After their arrest, the victims were transported to the Tacna Regiment and subsequently executed by firing squad at a military facility in Peldehue, where their remains were buried. Five years later, in December 1978, those sentenced made the bodies disappear in the operation called Retiro de Televisores.

The ruling of the highest court thus ratified, by three votes to two, the resolution of the Santiago Court of Appeals, which in 2008 imposed 270 days of imprisonment on the former uniformed personnel for their responsibility in the events and granted them conditional remission of the sentence.

The convicted are Colonel (R) Hernán Canales Varas (commander of the Tacna Regiment in 1978), retired Brigadier José Darrigrandi Marques (commander of the Army Aviation Command in 1978), Colonel (R) Luis Fuenzalida Rojas (Intelligence Chief of the Tacna in 1978), and retired non-commissioned officers Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo, José Canario Santibáñez, Darío Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Burgos Díaz, Sergio Medina Salazar, and Isidro Durán Muñoz.

The majority vote was cast by judges Jaime Rodríguez, Hugo Dolmestch, and Carlos Künsmüller, while their peers Nibaldo Segura and Rubén Ballesteros were in favor of accepting the statute of limitations for criminal action. Likewise, the judges resolved to dismiss the plaintiffs' lawsuit against the State. "The statute of limitations (for civil action) has expired," the ruling notes.

Source: Friday, August 14, 2009 La Nación

HUMAN RIGHTS. Key witness of the Tacna-Peldehue case speaks: It was them or us

Retired Army non-commissioned officer Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo is the only person who witnessed both the executions of the 21 people detained on September 11, 1973, at La Moneda, and the subsequent illegal exhumation of their remains five years later, on December 23, 1978.

Special Judge Juan Carlos Urrutia indicted him last January for aggravated kidnapping and on Wednesday the 25th for the removals. For the first time in 30 years, someone directly involved in these events recounts the details to a media outlet, face uncovered.

September 11, 1973, caught him as a corporal first class of the Tacna Regiment, the same military facility that—according to jurisdiction—became the mandatory stop for most detainees from downtown Santiago after the coup.

At 32, he was already married with two young daughters and worked as an Army vehicle driver. However, on September 12, he would carry out a mission that would mark his life: he participated in the transport of the 21 prisoners from La Moneda to the Peldehue military site, where they were executed by firing squad.

Five years later, he was chosen to indicate the exact place where the people were buried, thus participating in the process of illegal exhumation of the bodies. Today, almost 30 years later, Eliseo Cornejo walks around his simple house in La Florida in slippers.

At 62 years old, and suffering from heart and bronchial problems, he decides for the first time to tell the story to a media outlet. A narrative that further confirms his role as a key witness in the human rights violation case titled "Tacna-Peldehue." The same case for which he currently has 2 indictments, the last of which was issued on Wednesday the 25th.

• How many people arrived at the Tacna Regiment on September 11, 1973?
• Many arrived from everywhere. About 150 people, but it wasn't a constant number: it was a revolving door. Twenty would enter, another twenty would leave... Those who did stay, "separate, separate," were those who arrived from La Moneda. Those, I calculate, were around 30 people.
• Why were they left separate? What instructions were you given?
• No, we were not given instructions. We were only informed that those people remained detained in other facilities, under strict surveillance.
• Who gave that order?
• No one gave it to me, because I didn't participate in that. The regiment commander did communicate it, though.
• Joaquín Ramírez Pineda?
• Exactly.
• What work did you perform that day? Did you transport people?
• Yes, I took several people who were detained by different entities. Both Carabineros and the Air Force arrived with detainees there. They were taken to the Estadio Chile and there they were handed over to Carabineros.
• To what other places were the detainees taken, besides the Estadio Chile?
• To the Estadio Nacional. Others were also taken to Cuatro Álamos, but those were already being processed by other entities.
• What happened on September 12, 1973?
• On the 12th, I was engaged in internal activities, and I saw a group of civilians—I later realized they were detectives, because the Investigations vehicle was there—checking the detainees who had arrived from La Moneda. They took out some of those people who were Investigations officials. The regiment commander was there, because he was controlling everything. He handed them over.
• Later, the same thing happened that I told the judge: I went to see what was happening with that group out of curiosity. Commander Ramírez Pineda was there, there was a group of officers and non-commissioned officers, and everyone was watching the detainees who had arrived from La Moneda. Then the commander arrived and pointed at me. "You...", he gives my last name, names other people, "...put on your gear because you are going to go for security, for custody." One obeys the order.
• The detainees were going to be transported in a truck. I was an escort in a jeep behind the vehicle along with other people, all non-commissioned officers.
• How were the detainees carried?
• They loaded them all lying down, across the vehicle, one to each side, and covered with a tarp. They were handcuffed...
• Beaten and in bad condition?
• No, none of them were touched at all.
• Were there 21 people?
• Exactly. From there we followed the truck. I didn't know where it was going, they didn't tell us where. I was in a military jeep—all the vehicles were military—, the truck with the detainees, a Pegaso, was in front, and another vehicle was further ahead. We only realized we were heading north, nothing more. We passed Colina and arrived at Peldehue.

The executions

• What time did you arrive at Peldehue?
• It was around noon, let's say between eleven and three in the afternoon. We left Santiago around nine or ten.
• What happened at Peldehue?
• They took them off the vehicle, the same thing I told the judge, and they were executed.
• They executed them by firing squad...
• Firing squad, exactly.
• Who?
• Civilian personnel and military personnel. Who the civilians are, I don't know. I imagine they must have been military in civilian clothes. I don't know the names of the military, they were all strangers to us, there were between 6 and 8 people waiting there, but they were not from the Tacna Regiment.
• And what happened there?
• The truck arrives, parks in a specific place where they indicate, and they take the detainees down one by one. There was a building, so we couldn't see. I heard the noises, of course. Then they would come for another and so on. They took them out one by one, and took them to a specific place, further back... what do I know.
• Did they blindfold the detainees?
• No, only with the handcuffs, nothing more.
• So they saw everything...
• They saw everything.
• What weapons did they use?
• Large-caliber weapons, let's call them that, submachine guns.
• Were the deaths instantaneous?
• I imagine so.
• What was done with the bodies?
• We were just escorts, nothing more, and these other people later covered the entire sector where the process took place. Then they kicked us out, mission accomplished and goodbye.
• Did they all stay in the same place?
• Exactly, yes, in a huge hole that was there. It seems to me they were making a well, or something like that. And they threw them in there. It was about fifteen meters or so. And from there we left, we all withdrew.
• Did you know what happened to the bodies?
• Not right away, later I found out they stayed there.

"Go and indicate the exact place"

• What happened in December 1978?
• That is the exhumation. One day, any day, I arrived at the Tacna Regiment in the morning like every day, and on Tupper Avenue I felt followed by two people who called me by my name. Since I didn't know them, I hurried to get to the barracks.
• The two men "presented themselves" to the regiment commander, and identified themselves. I had to go by order of the commander—who was another one, Mr. Canales Varas—and he tells me that I have to accompany those gentlemen to the Ministry of Defense. I was informed that they were intelligence agents, I don't know from where. I go to the ministry and I am interviewed by a general—I don't remember the name, I imagine it was General (Enrique) Morel, I think. It was a very brief meeting, and the general asks me: "Do you know where the people are?", and I answer yes. "Okay, go and report the exact place."
• Why were you certain that the bodies were still in Peldehue?
• Because those of us who went knew where they were. But I tell you, this was random. They said "there were 8 people... let's see... this one must know," and it fell to me. It could have fallen to anyone.
• Who else did you go with on December 23, 1978, to Peldehue?
• Me, the two civilians, accompanied by other people from the Tacna Regiment who also belonged to the Intelligence Department... two more. I arrive at the place and report "this is the point," because there were reference signs: a tree, a construction. A mark was even made. And nothing more, that is my entire participation, because later a backhoe arrived.
• Who else was at the place?
• There was a group of 15 or 20 military personnel, where they came from I have no idea. They were all young boys, I imagine they were students from some school. The machine started to dig and take out little by little. Like that until the first vestiges appeared, which was a piece of iron, which I remember was outside and they threw it inside on that occasion (in 1973). That already gave me certainty.
• The machine started little by little, and a first person appeared, around eleven-thirty or twelve in the day. The rest was all done by hand, with shovels. The bodies were practically complete, totally whole. The earth there tightened in such a way that no oxygen entered and that kept them there.
• How many bodies did you remove?
• I don't know the exact amount, because I wasn't watching them. The only thing I know is that after they took them out, they put the remains in sacks—made of twine or hemp, one by one so they wouldn't fall apart—they took them to a truck and the truck transported them more or less 300 meters. There it crossed an immensely large patio where a helicopter landed that transported them. And that is all I know. The same version I gave the judge...
• How many hours did you work?
• All day. I calculate that I arrived there between 9 and 10 in the morning. Commander Canales himself went to verify what was being done.
• Canales Varas was present at the place...
• Exactly, he was there for a while, 10 minutes. He saw and left.
• In the judicial process, it is pointed out that they drank a lot of alcohol, pisco...
• Not everyone. As the bodies were coming out, they were decomposing very quickly and to endure that smell—and it is written in the file—a quantity of alcohol was brought to the personnel there. They had to work in a state of intemperance to be able to do things.
• Did you ever know who the helicopter pilot was?
• I didn't know him and I didn't even see him. There are people who know who the pilot was, who everyone knows, but I don't know if they have declared the name. But I had no idea. If I had known who the pilot was, I would have said so and we would have gotten out of this.
• Did you participate in other executions or exhumations?
• No.

"War situation"

• What have you felt all these years?
• It is something difficult to explain, because that brings subsequent consequences. I even had to undergo psychiatric treatment. There are things that sometimes cannot be told, because, I tell you, my wife has only recently found out about everything that had happened. I tell her: within military life we are strong, we are prepared for many things, but to participate in something like that... It is strong, it affects me a lot.
• There was depression, I would dream, I would wake up screaming, and everything would come to my mind again. And it was constant, it wasn't one day, it was almost every day. There was a moment when one breaks.
• You feel guilty...
• In part yes, because of what I saw, because of what happened, because of the people who are now claiming their loved ones who do not appear. But it turns out there was one thing: it was them or us. They also killed many people of ours and as uniformed personnel we had no right to complain. We followed orders. Within the Army, orders are followed, or else...
• You had no other way out?
• No. The military discipline regulation says that the order will be fulfilled at all costs, even at the cost of life. I tell you: We were in a war situation, and it was enough for me to say that I didn't agree for there to be 22 deceased instead of 21, I would have been involved.
• Would you be interested in finding the 12 disappeared from La Moneda?
• But of course. I think this is going to be clarified, and they will know where they are. Because I don't know either! Mine goes up to a certain point and then beyond that I don't know, because I didn't see it. I can't tell you if they were taken to the north, to the south, to the sea, or to the mountains.
• Do you have a clear conscience?
• Totally, as I believe any of the military who participated in this has.

Source: El Mercurio, June 29, 2003

Detainees of La Moneda: CDE continues actions for the disappeared

Counselor lawyers resolved to become a party in the process for the disappearance of the 12 advisors of the Popular Unity Government. With the unanimous vote of the 11 members present at this Tuesday's session, the State Defense Council (CDE) resolved to become a party in the process for the disappearance of 12 collaborators of the Popular Unity Government, detained at La Moneda on September 11, 1973.

After a discussion on the subject, the Council decided to leave the legal actions in the hands of the entity's lawyer, Helmut Griott. Griott maintained that the intervention in the process "is not only aimed at determining the truth of the facts and the whereabouts of the disappeared, but also at elucidating what the institutional chain of command was in the different military units that participated in these events." Reasons for delay Asked about the delay of the counselors in making this decision, one of them pointed out that it has always been under discussion whether the CDE should be a party in all the cases that Judge Juan Guzmán saw at the time. "Several are of the opinion that it was enough to be a party in a single process," he noted, pointing out below that finally, it was decided to start actions in all the cases, which at this point are handled by different judges and ministers. Judge Juan Carlos Urrutia, who currently handles the case of the disappeared from La Moneda, indicted five former military personnel on June 25, accusing them of the illegal exhumation in 1978 of the remains of those people, at Fort Arteaga, near Colina. These are retired officers Eliseo Cornejo Escobedo and Hernán Canales Varas, and retired non-commissioned officers José Canario Santibáñez, Luis Fuenzalida Rojas, and Darío Gutiérrez de la Torre. That was the first time that the justice system issued a ruling and indicted former military personnel for the removal of bodies of forcibly disappeared persons. These would correspond to advisors of former President Salvador Allende and members of his personal escort. A day before the indictment, the minister of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Amanda Valdovinos, revealed that identified military personnel participated in the removal of corpses and threw them into the sea. In 2001, the magistrate carried out an investigation by order of the Supreme Court to comply with the agreements of the dialogue table. For the crime of kidnapping, retired General Luis Joaquín Ramírez Pineda is also indicted in that case, detained for more than ten months in Buenos Aires. The retired officer was the commander of the Tacna Regiment, the place where the detainees who were later executed arrived. One of them was the doctor and presidential advisor Georges Klein Pipper, whose case motivated an extradition request from France against Ramírez Pineda.

Source: El Mercurio, August 21, 2003

Court of Appeals sentences nine former members of the Army for illegal exhumation

The sentence implies 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree and the payment of a fine of 14 Monthly Tax Units. SANTIAGO.— The Eighth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals, in a split decision, sentenced nine former members of the Army for the crime of illegal exhumation of people who appear on the lists of the forcibly disappeared, and whose bodies were unearthed—in December 1978—from a pit in the Peldehue military field, in the commune of Colina, in the investigation of the so-called "Retiro de televisores" case.

Judges Cornelio Villarroel Ramírez, Mario Carroza Espinoza, and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún Comandari determined the sentence of 270 days of minor imprisonment in its medium degree and the payment of a fine of 14 Monthly Tax Units (UTM) for Hernán Ricardo Canales Varas, José Jaime Darrigrandi Márquez, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo Escobedo, José Nelson Canario Santibáñez, Luis Antonio Fuenzalida Rojas, Darío Ernesto Gutiérrez de la Torre, Fernando Remigio Burgos Díaz, Sergio Antonio Medina Salazar, and Isidoro Custodio Durán Muñoz.

The unearthed bodies correspond to those detained at the Palacio de La Moneda on September 11, 1973, who were taken to the Tacna Regiment and later executed by firing squad at the Peldehue military facility, in the commune of Colina.

Judge Carroza and acting lawyer Manuel Hasbún were of the opinion to revoke the first-instance sentence, dated January 31, 2007, which had acquitted Canales Varas and Darrigrandi Márquez for lack of participation, and to accept the statute of limitations exception for the other 7 sentenced, considering that the crime is a crime against humanity, therefore, imprescriptible.

Source: Emol.com, June 11, 2008