On December 19, 1973, José Braulio ASTORGA NANJARI, 55 years old, a furniture maker, member of the Supply and Price Boards (JAP), and militant of the Partido Comunista, was detained.

Two armed civilians, accompanied by heavily armed carabineros from the 17th Precinct, took him while he was working in his workshop, in the presence of witnesses. He was taken to the 17th Precinct of Carabineros, where he remained "in transit." From that moment on, he has been forcibly disappeared.

The authorities officially acknowledged his detention and reported that the victim had been released on December 26, 1973, with his whereabouts unknown.

Given that the detention is corroborated both by eyewitness accounts and by the official acknowledgment of the authorities, this Commission does not accept the version that the victim was released, since: Mr.

Astorga was a militant of the Partido Comunista and an active member of the JAP, and there are well-founded presumptions that he was detained by security agents and that the Carabineros were only fulfilling custody functions; it is presumed that he was detained at Tejas Verdes at a later date; and as of today, there are no records of his departure from or entry into national territory after his detention, nor any active electoral registration.

In view of the above evidence, this Commission has reached the conviction that José Braulio Astorga was detained and forcibly disappeared by State agents in an act of grave violation of human rights.

José Braulio Astorga Nanjarí, married, father of one, carpenter, furniture maker, and member of the Communist Party, was detained on December 19, 1973, at approximately 8:30 p.m. at his home, in the presence of six of his relatives.

The captors were two armed agents in civilian clothing who did not present an arrest warrant and took the victim to the 17th Carabineros Precinct, located at Carrión 1795, Santiago, almost directly across from Astorga’s home.

At 10:00 p.m. that same day, his spouse went to the precinct to inquire about her husband and was informed that he was not being held, and that he had only been "in transit."

During the legal proceedings, it was established that for the Carabineros, being "in transit" meant the detention of individuals within a Carabineros facility who had been apprehended by security services and were held there temporarily until they were taken to their final destination by security agents.

According to one officer, "in transit" detentions must be recorded in the Daily Logbook, while another maintained that this type of detention "should not be recorded."

That same day, other leaders of the neighborhood’s Supply and Price Board (JAP), of which Astorga was a member, were also detained.

The victim was held at the aforementioned precinct and was later seen by other detainees at the Tejas Verdes Army torture center. Iván Ojier Contreras Puente, who was held at Tejas Verdes in December 1973, stated the following in a sworn affidavit: "On December 19, 1973, I was detained again by Carabineros at my home, around 7:00 p.m.; two were in civilian clothes and two were in uniform.

They asked for me, held me at gunpoint, and took me on foot to the 17th Carabineros Precinct, which was a few blocks from my house."

"There, they immediately put me into a truck where I saw a detainee I knew, who was already there, Mr. José Astorga... all of us, up to that date, were members of the Communist Party and leaders of the local Supply and Price Board (JAP)."

He further added: "They put us into a truck where José Astorga, José Francisco Betancourt, Andrés Cruces, José Vásquez, and others I did not know were also being held."

"In this truck, which stopped several times to let people on and off, we arrived at Tejas Verdes, where they removed our blindfolds... they left us in a small room like a closet, and the other three were taken away to be interrogated.

There, we heard how they were torturing José Astorga, asking him about the weapons they assumed they were going to use to attack the 17th Carabineros Precinct; I heard screams, moans, and responses to those interrogating him."

"I do not remember if it was that same night or the next day that José Vásquez told us that José Astorga had died under the torture they had applied to him..."

Another survivor of the Tejas Verdes Torture Center, José Nibaldo Vásquez Yáñez, declared in his notarized testimony: "They put me in the vehicle. Later, they brought in José Astorga Nanjari, who also lived nearby; we were friends and neighbors. He was also a long-time P.C. member..."

He added: "On December 20, at about 10:00 p.m., they transferred us to Tejas Verdes. We spent the night inside the vehicle. They beat Cruces quite a bit..." "The first one they interrogated was Astorga; you could hear the blows, the heartbreaking screams from the electricity; they beat him with a wet, twisted sheet and with iron bars on his genitals."

He later noted: "Afterward, I heard a shout from one of the torturers saying, 'the old man has kicked the bucket on us.' They said to me, 'If you, shit, don't talk and don't sing, the same thing will happen to you as your companion.' They made me crouch down, and I felt the body of José Astorga lying on the floor. From there, they moved him to the dormitories to spend the night, in some bunks."

"We never saw him again that night. Apparently, he had problems due to the torture and died."

"The next day, the four of us were interrogated again; Astorga was no longer there, as I pointed out."

Astorga's detention was denied by the authorities. However, the Colonel Aide-de-Camp to General César Mendoza officially reported that Astorga had been detained and subsequently released. Later, he indicated that his official statement contained errors.

José Astorga’s home had been raided twice before his detention, one of which occurred on September 12, 1973. Since he was seen being subjected to torture at the Tejas Verdes torture center by some of his companions, there has been no further news of Astorga. Since then, he remains among the forcibly disappeared.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On January 3, 1974, a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) was filed on behalf of the victim before the Santiago Court of Appeals, but the court neither processed nor ruled on it. Subsequently, the case files were sent to the Second Criminal Court of Santiago with an order to investigate the alleged disappearance.

The Second Criminal Court of Santiago initiated an investigation into the alleged disappearance of José Astorga Nanjari, Juan Aravena, Ernesto Bravo, Yanctong Juantok, Ramón Astudillo, and Rudy Cárcamo, under case file 86.614-6 on May 13, 1977.

This process was initiated by virtue of a series of Habeas Corpus petitions filed by the Federazione Lavoratori Costruzioni of Italy before the Supreme Court.

On March 7, 1977, one of these petitions included, among others, José Braulio Astorga Nanjari. The same document requested a Visiting Judge (Ministro en Visita) to investigate all these cases.

The Supreme Court decided to ask the Santiago Court of Appeals if amparo petitions had been processed for the individuals mentioned in the Federazione Lavoratori Costruzioni documents. This Court presented a brief report of 5 or 6 lines on each specific case.

Regarding José Astorga Nanjari, Juan Aravena, Ernesto Bravo, Yanctong Juantok, Ramón Astudillo, and Rudy Cárcamo, it reported: "no amparo petitions appear to have been filed on their behalf."

This information was incorrect, as an amparo petition had been filed for him in January 1974.

On May 6, 1977, the Supreme Court resolved to send the files of all these cases to the Second Criminal Court of Santiago to investigate whether the disappearance of these individuals was the result of a crime.

The Second Criminal Court instructed a summary proceeding and summoned the leaders of the Federazione (based in Rome) to testify. It also sent official letters to the Civil Registry, the Legal Medical Institute, and cemeteries to verify if the victims had died.

The responses were negative.

The Minister of the Interior reported in confidential Official Letter 1724 of May 25, 1977, that none of the mentioned individuals had records in that Ministry, nor had any order or resolution been issued that affected them. (Except for Rudy Cárcamo Ruiz, who was said to have been detained and released).

The Investigative Police carried out routine inquiries, which in the case of José Astorga consisted of interrogating his spouse. In addition, hospitals, prisons, and the Legal Medical Institute were consulted.

On September 30, 1977, Florencia Gamboa, José Astorga’s spouse, testified before the Judge and ratified the complaint, reporting that of the many letters sent to the authorities, one had received a positive response.

The General of the Carabineros, César Mendoza, then a member of the Government Junta, informed her that her husband had indeed been detained by Carabineros personnel and released on December 26, 1974.

In January 1978, Astorga’s spouse presented a copy of press publications in which it was stated that the government had resolved 1,200 cases of alleged forcibly disappeared persons whose cases had been clarified.

Given that the information did not mention the 1,200 people, she requested that the Court send an official letter to the Minister Secretary General of Government to report on José Astorga Nanjari.

On March 30, 1978, a new document from Florencia Gamboa requested that an official letter be sent to the Red Cross to provide information on Astorga.

In May 1978, a copy of the letter dated March 19, 1974, signed by Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Donoso, "by order of the General Director, Member of the Government Junta," was submitted, in which José Astorga’s detention was acknowledged.

The case was definitively dismissed on May 12, 1978, by virtue of the provisions of Decree Law 2191 of 1978, which established amnesty for persons who had committed criminal acts during the period between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1978, provided they were not currently being prosecuted or convicted, and that the crimes were not among those excepted by this Decree Law.

The Santiago Court of Appeals approved the definitive dismissal on May 31, 1978, in a resolution that included the text of General Mendoza’s letter.

Florencia Gamboa presented a document arguing that the crime under investigation is permanent, and that it cannot cease to be investigated even if criminal liability is extinguished and the sentence and all its effects are also extinguished. The crime does not disappear.

The Supreme Court did not accept the appeal without ruling on the content, as it stated: "Denied, as you are not a party to the case." However, it considered the investigation incomplete and ordered it to be finished.

The Court summoned Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Ramón Donoso Pérez, who had signed the aforementioned letter acknowledging the detention of José Astorga Nanjari. Mr. Donoso declared: "...it is impossible for me to specify who the person or persons were who informed me on that occasion regarding the detention of José Braulio Astorga Nanjari." He added that "I believe that... the Carabineros did not have direct participation in this matter; it was surely information from the other Intelligence agencies."

The second-in-command at the time at the precinct where Astorga was taken, Juan de Dios Peralta Marín, declared: "I therefore have no information regarding the facts I am being asked about," suggesting that the General Directorate of Carabineros be consulted.

Waldo Erasmo Segundo Silva Alfaro, who served as the Commissioner of the 17th Precinct when José Astorga was detained, declared: "At that time, it was normal and frequent for Security Agencies, given the state the country was going through, to carry out duties within their competence on the street, and when these resulted in the detention of a person, the officials would request permission to leave their detainees in custody while they finished the duties they were performing."

"In these cases, it was sufficient for the official performing the duty to identify themselves and make the request to the Officer, and not necessarily to the Commissioner of the Unit, which was me." He added: "Likewise, in those cases, the person's detention was not recorded in the Guard Logbook because it did not correspond to duties performed or requested by Carabineros."

"In this situation, the detainees are known as 'in transit'."

Finally, he noted: "...I declare that I do not remember any information regarding this case..." referring to José Astorga Nanjari.

The summary proceeding was closed on May 12, 1978, and temporarily dismissed on the same date.

The summary proceeding was reopened on July 11, 1978, in the second instance.

On December 18, 1978, the summary was closed based on the amnesty decree law, and the case was dismissed. The Prosecutor who reported to the Court stated: "The fate of José Braulio Astorga Nanjari can be considered presumably established, and it goes without saying, the worst happened to him." He added in the final note: "An in-depth study of what happened to José Braulio Astorga Nanjari leads to the well-founded presumption that, after being deprived of his liberty by the former DINA, no one ever heard from Astorga again; if that presumption reaches the character of conviction, it is a matter for the ordinary Courts to decide whether or not they have jurisdiction over the matter."

The dismissal was approved by the Court of Appeals on May 30, 1979, on the grounds that "the existence of any criminal act on the occasion of the complaints is not legally proven..."

Another case was also initiated in the Third Criminal Court on March 4, 1974, which was entered as case file 115.828 due to the complaint filed by the victim's spouse, Mrs. Florencia Gamboa. The victim's spouse was summoned to ratify the complaint, but the summons was sent to the address at Carrión 1070 instead of 1670.

The second summons suffered from the same error. The Court sent the correct address, but the Investigative Police modified it and reported that number 1070 did not exist. However, the detectives did interrogate Mrs.

Gamboa. Subsequently, considering the failure to locate Mrs. Gamboa as the only element, the closure of the summary and the temporary dismissal of the case were decreed on August 17, 1979.

Astorga’s spouse and mother reported the disappearance of the detainee to the International Red Cross, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (three submissions), and the Government Junta.

They also submitted requests or sought information from Generals Augusto Pinochet, César Mendoza, Raúl Benavides, etc. Inquiries were also made at first-aid posts, hospitals, and morgues. All these efforts were fruitless.

On September 25, 1991, a new criminal complaint was filed before the 2nd Criminal Court of Santiago for José Astorga Nanjari, which entered processing under case file 866146. As of the date of this report (late 1992), the judge had ordered the closure of the summary.

Source: Vicariate of Solidarity