The visiting judge of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced retired Carabineros First Sergeant Roberto Antonio Leal Orellana to 5 years and one day in prison as the perpetrator of the simple homicide of Jorge San Martín Lizama, committed in the commune of Curacautín on July 17, 1976.

The presiding judge sentenced Leal Orellana to the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification from holding public office and exercising political rights, and absolute disqualification from practicing professional trades for the duration of the sentence, as well as the payment of court costs.

The magistrate did not grant the benefits of Law No. 18.216 requested by his defense, meaning he must serve the custodial sentence effectively.

Judge Álvaro Mesa established

“That on the night of July 17, 1976, three officers from the 5th Carabineros Precinct of Curacautín, after receiving a telephone report of an alleged robbery, went to the address indicated in the call.

At the location, and in the company of the civilian complainant, two of the uniformed officers entered the premises, while the third officer remained guarding the exterior on the public thoroughfare. That the uniformed officers noticed the presence of a person—subsequently identified as Jorge San Martín Lizama—who, upon being surprised, threw an object from inside the property, striking one of the windows and breaking it.

While inside the room, San Martín Lizama received a gunshot wound to his body, as First Corporal Roberto Antonio Leal Orellana approached to look through the previously broken glass with the only flashlight available to the officers at that time of night, and faced with San Martín’s defiant attitude, the officer proceeded to fire his service weapon at him.

That after the shot fired by Roberto Antonio Leal Orellana, the civilian who was at the scene managed to open the doors of the property—which until that moment had been locked—entering along with the two police officers and finding Jorge San Martín Lizama wounded by gunfire but still conscious.

He was transported to the Curacautín hospital and subsequently to the regional hospital in Temuco, arriving deceased at the latter medical center in the early hours of July 18, 1976,” the ruling details.

Source: radiodelsur.cl, October 6, 2015

Sentence reduced for Carabineros officer for homicide during dictatorship in Curacautín

The Temuco Court of Appeals reduced the sentence of retired Carabineros First Sergeant Roberto Antonio Leal Orellana for his responsibility in the simple homicide of Jorge San Martín Lizama, committed in the commune of Curacautín on July 17, 1976.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 97-2015), the Second Chamber of the appellate court, composed of judges Aner Padilla, Edelmira Durán, and acting lawyer Sergio Oliva, reduced the sentence handed down by visiting judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre from 5 years and one day to 3 years and one day in prison.

The benefit of supervised release was granted. The appellate court accepted the principle of "half-prescription" (statute of limitations mitigation) to reduce the sentence: “Given that the accused, Roberto Antonio Leal Orellana, alleged the special mitigating circumstance of 'half-prescription' or 'gradual prescription,' contemplated in Article 103 of the Penal Code, this Court will grant it in his favor, since, as stated in the case files, the statute of limitations period for the criminal action had elapsed by more than half from the perpetration of the crime until the initiation of the criminal proceedings. This consideration is not incompatible with the classification of the crime as a crime against humanity, since the mitigation accepted does not lead to the impunity of the crime and its perpetrators, but only to a reduction of the sentence,” the appellate court’s ruling states.

Source: canaldenoticias.cl, January 27, 2016