Santiago de Chile, Dec 23 (EFE)- The Supreme Court of Chile granted supervised release to six retired police officers and one civilian who had been sentenced to between five and fifteen years in prison for the 1973 disappearance of three socialist militants, judicial sources reported today.

The country's high court issued a final ruling regarding the disappearance of the three opponents, who were detained on September 15, 1973, four days after the military coup of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), in Pitrufquén, 700 kilometers south of Santiago.

The forcibly disappeared are Einar Enrique Tenorio Fuentes, a teacher at the local high school; Luis Calfuquir Villalón, hospital administrator; and Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz, an agent for the Banco del Estado.

According to witnesses, the three were taken that day to the Carabineros (militarized police) station in the town and have remained disappeared since then. Judge Fernando Carreño, of the Temuco Court of Appeals, sentenced retired Carabineros Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Moreno Mena and former non-commissioned officers Reinaldo Lukowiak Luppy and Hugo Catalán Lagos to fifteen years in prison in October 2007.

The Supreme Court has now revoked that second-instance ruling and reduced the sentence for Moreno Mena, who was finally sentenced to 729 days in prison as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of Tenorio Fuentes and to three years and one day in prison for the qualified homicide of Burgos Lavoz.

However, Moreno Mena was granted the benefit of supervised release. Meanwhile, Lukowiak Luppy received three years and one day in prison for the kidnappings of Tenorio Fuentes and Calfuquir Villalón, but also received the benefit of supervised release.

The same occurred with Catalán Lagos, sentenced to 729 days in prison for the kidnapping of Calfuquir Villalón and to three years and one day in prison for the homicide of Burgos Lavoz. In the previous ruling, the judge also sentenced former Carabineros non-commissioned officers Domingo Silva Soto, Pedro Fernández Torres, and Nadir Guzmán Pincheira, as well as the civilian Heriberto Babilek Budic, to five years in prison as accessories to the crime.

The Supreme Court has now decided to reduce the sentence for Domingo Silva and sentenced him to 729 days in prison for the kidnapping of Calfuquir Villalón and to three years and one day in prison for the homicide of Burgos Lavoz, although he received the benefit of supervised release.

Meanwhile, Fernández Torres received 729 days in prison for the kidnapping of Calfuquir Villalón, accompanied by the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence. The other two retired non-commissioned officers were sentenced to 200 days in prison as accessories to the homicide of Burgos Lavoz and were also granted the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

This benefit allows the sentence to be served in freedom, subject to discreet observation and assistance by the Gendarmería de Chile. The decision was adopted in a split ruling, and two judges were in favor of accepting the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in these crimes.

In the civil aspect, the Chilean Treasury was ordered to pay 75 million pesos (148,000 dollars) to Verónica Tenorio Aguilera, daughter of Einar Tenorio Fuentes, as compensation for moral damages. The Supreme Court will be presided over starting in January by Judge Milton Juica, who became known for investigating emblematic human rights violation cases and was elected unanimously on December 18.

That day, Juica made a mea culpa regarding the actions of the justice system during the dictatorship. "During the dictatorship, the Judiciary did not behave as it should have, especially the Supreme Court, but I cannot say more than that because that Supreme Court does not currently exist and the people are not there at this moment," he stated. EFE frf/gs/ap

Source: Noticias.terra.com, December 23, 2009

Supreme Court issues ruling in human rights case

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

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

THE SENTENCES

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

For Reinaldo Lukowiak Luppy: 3 years and one day in prison 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 in prison for the kidnapping of Luis Calfuquir Villalón, and 3 years and one day in prison for the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz.

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

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

For Nadir Guzmán Pincheira: 200 days in prison as an accessory to the homicide of Osvaldo Burgos Lavoz. Conditional remission of the sentence was granted. Finally, for Heriberto Babileck Druding, a sentence of 200 days in prison 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 Chilean Treasury 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 vote of ministers Segura and Ballesteros, who were of the opinion that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution should be applied; meanwhile, in the civil aspect, the same ministers determined to reject the payment and accept the exception of incompetence of the court.

Source: Australtemuco.cl, December 23, 2009

Six Carabineros convicted for human rights violations

A retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Carabineros and five retired non-commissioned officers of the same institution, in addition to a 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 location.

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 supervised release system.

Source: La Nación, October 4, 2007

Supreme Court issues final ruling for dictatorship crimes in Pitrufquén

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

In a split ruling, the highest court dictated 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.

The benefit of supervised release was applied to all those convicted. This ruling was adopted with the dissenting vote of ministers Nibaldo Segura and Rubén Ballesteros, who were of the opinion that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution should be applied.

Likewise, in the civil sphere, the same judges rejected the payment of that sum by accepting the exception of incompetence of the court.

Source: La Nación, December 23, 2009