The minister on extraordinary duty for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, handed down a conviction against Carlos Nelson Matus Rojas, a former Army officer, for the qualified homicide of 15-year-old Jorge Enrique Pardo Aburto.

On September 4, 1985, a day of protest against the Pinochet dictatorship took place. The demonstration ended with 10 people dead, one of whom was the high school student Jorge Enrique Pardo Aburto. As determined by the investigation of the Court of Appeals Minister, Pardo Aburto was murdered on September 4, 1985, by a military patrol commanded by Lieutenant Matus Rojas, which arrived to disperse a demonstration in front of a Cema-Chile facility, located at Avenida Grecia 6740 in the commune of Peñalolén.

According to various testimonies, the young man was with several friends quite a few meters away from the CEMA premises and outside the line of fire of the soldiers who arrived to protect the site. Nevertheless, the adolescent received a gunshot wound that caused pelvic-abdominal trauma, which resulted in his death.

Matus Rojas was sentenced to 5 years and one day, a sentence that will likely be appealed. And, in all likelihood, he will also serve his sentence in freedom.

Source: resumen.cl, March 3, 2017

Sentence reduced for retired Army officer for the murder of a 15-year-old during the dictatorship

Jorge Enrique Pardo Aburto was participating in a demonstration in front of a Cema-Chile facility, located in Peñalolén. The Santiago Court of Appeals reduced the sentence to be served by a retired Army officer for his responsibility in the homicide of Jorge Enrique Pardo Aburto.

The crime was perpetrated on September 4, 1985, in the commune of Peñalolén. The former officer favored by the appellate court's decision is identified as Carlos Matus Rojas, who had been sentenced by Judge Mario Carroza in March of this year to five years and one day in prison for the homicide of the 15-year-old adolescent, who was participating in a protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The recent ruling by the Court of Appeals was unanimous; the First Chamber of the appellate court sentenced Carlos Nelson Matus Rojas to an effective prison term of 3 years and one day, as the perpetrator of the crime of simple homicide of the young man.

Source: resumen.cl, December 12, 2017