Of the 129 former DINA agents prosecuted by Judge Víctor Montiglio for crimes against humanity, 48 were released in the context of the cases known as Operation Colombo, Operation Condor, and Calle Conferencia 1 and 2.

The resolutions adopted by the Fifth Chamber of the Court of Appeals (Conferencia 1 and 2)—composed of justices Dobra Lusic, María Eugenia Campo, and acting attorney Bernardo Lara—granted the benefit to 9 of the individuals charged with these crimes.

They are: Heriberto del Carmen Acevedo, Emilio Troncoso Vivallos, Jorge Pichunmán Curiqueo, Claudio Pacheco Fernández, Gustavo Guerreo Aguilera, Italia Donatha Viarella Gilio, Orfa Saavedra Vásquez, Elisa Magna Astudillo, and Joyce Ahumada Despouy.

Meanwhile, the Sixth Chamber of the capital's appellate court, composed of justices Alfredo Pfeiffer, Mario Rojas, and acting attorney Enrique Pérez, granted provisional release to 31 former agents of the military regime charged in the Operation Condor case.

That list includes: Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, José Sarmiento Sotelo, Luis Salvador Villarroel Gutiérrez, Fernando Adrián Roa Montano, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Orlando Guillermo Inostroza Lagos, Juan Ángel Urbina Cáceres, José Abel Aravena Ruiz, Manuel Rivas Díaz, Hermon Helec Alfaro, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, César Maríquez Bravo, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Vergara, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Luis René Torres Méndez, Raúl Juan Rodríguez Ponte, Luis Rigoberto Videla Insunza, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Miguel Ángel Yáñez Ugalde, Ricardo Zamorano Vergara, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Palmira Isabel Almuna Guzmán, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, José Nelson Fuenzalida Saldías, Leoncio Enrique Velásquez Guala, and José Fernando Morales Bastías. For both cases, the judges resolved to grant the benefit to Ricardo Lawrence Mires, Jorge Sagardia Monje, Claudio Orellana De la Pinta, Camilo Torres Negrier, Luis Urrutia Acuña, José Sarmiento Sotelo, Manuel Montre Méndez, and Víctor Álvarez Droguett. Regarding the revoked releases, in the Colombo Case, the 4th Chamber of the Court of Appeals, which reviewed the petition for release in the Operation Colombo case, revoked the benefit for 22 of the prosecuted individuals, while the others did not request the benefit or are being prosecuted for other human rights cases.

Source: La Nación, September 1, 2009

75 former DINA agents convicted in the case known as "Operation Colombo"

The visiting judge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Hernán Cristosto, issued a sentence against 75 former agents of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the aggravated kidnapping of Jorge Grez Aburto, who has been forcibly disappeared since May 23, 1974, in the Metropolitan Region.

The sentence is the first issued by Magistrate Crisosto since he was appointed in August 2013 as a visiting judge to investigate human rights violation cases. The ruling—over 400 pages long with 310 considerations—corresponds to one of the episodes of the so-called "Operation Colombo," which was investigated by the late judge Víctor Montiglio Rezzio.

According to the investigation's findings, Judge Crisosto was able to substantiate the following facts: "That on the afternoon of May 23, 1974, while Jorge Arturo Grez Aburto, who is identified as a member of the Socialist Party and a former member of the MIR, was leaving an art gallery located between Mac Iver and Miraflores streets in downtown Santiago, he was intercepted by individuals who turned out to be agents of the National Intelligence Directorate, DINA, an organization created by the Military Government of the time for the repression and neutralization of people it considered enemies of the regime. They transported him to a property located at Calle Londres 38, also known as 'Yucatán,' which functioned as a clandestine detention center. During his time in custody, he was taken for a couple of days to the Estadio Chile detention center and then returned to Londres 38; while he was in the latter facility, he was kept without contact with the outside world, blindfolded, and tied up, being subjected continuously to interrogations under torture by the aforementioned agents, in which they asked him about his party activities and the names and addresses of his political group comrades in order to proceed with their arrest. He was also seen by other detainees at the 'Cuatro Álamos' facility. The last date on which Grez Aburto was seen alive occurred on an indeterminate date in July of that same year, 1974, and since then it has not been possible to determine his whereabouts, despite the innumerable searches that have been carried out, with this situation continuing to the present moment." The described facts, the resolution continues: "Constitute the crime of aggravated kidnapping, as contemplated in the third paragraph of Article 141 of the Penal Code, in relation to the first paragraph of the same article, in view of the duration of the action; that is, that Jorge Arturo Grez Aburto has remained detained against his will for a period exceeding ninety days, without his whereabouts being known from May 23, 1974, to date, which consequently has also caused serious harm to his person, as he remains disappeared." For this crime, the judge sentenced former agents Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda, César Manríquez Bravo, Pedro Octavio Espinoza Bravo, Marcelo Luis Moren Brito, Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, and Gerardo Ernesto Urrich González to 13 years in prison, without benefits, for their responsibility as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping. Meanwhile, Raúl Eduardo Iturriaga Neumann, Gerardo Ernesto Godoy García, Ricardo Víctor Lawrence Mires, Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez, Sergio Hernán Castillo González, Manuel Andrés Carevic Cubillos, José Nelson Fuentealba Saldías, Basclay Humberto Zapata Reyes, José Enrique Fuentes Torres, José Mario Fritz Esparza, Julio José Hoyos Zegarra, Nelson Alberto Paz Bustamante, Claudio Orlando Orellana de la Pinta, Enrique Tránsito Gutiérrez Rubilar, Gustavo Galvarino Carumán Soto, Hiro Álvarez Vega, José Alfonso Ojeda Obando, Luis Salvador Villarroel Gutiérrez, Olegario Enrique González Moreno, Orlando Jesús Torrejón Gatica, Rudeslindo Urrutia Jorquera, Alfredo Orlando Moya Tejeda, Carlos Alfonso Sáez Sanhueza, Fernando Enrique Guerra Guajardo, Hernán Patricio Valenzuela Salas, Hugo Rubén Delgado Carrasco, José Fernando Morales Bastías, Juan Alfredo Villanueva Alvear, Juan Evaristo Duarte Gallegos, Lautaro Eugenio Díaz Espinoza, Leonidas Emiliano Méndez Moreno, Pedro Ariel Araneda Araneda, Rafael De Jesús Riveros Frost, Víctor Manuel Alvarez Droguett, and Víctor Manuel Molina Astete were sentenced to 10 years in prison, without benefits, for their responsibility as perpetrators of aggravated kidnapping. In the case of Luis Eduardo Mora Cerda, José Jaime Mora Diocares, Alfonso Humberto Quiroz Quintana, Camilo Torres Negrier, Carlos Justo Bermúdez Méndez, Claudio Enrique Pacheco Fernández, Fernando Adrián Roa Montaña, Gerardo Meza Acuña, Héctor Raúl Valdebenito Araya, Jaime Humberto Paris Ramos, Jorge Laureano Sagardia Monje, José Dorohi Hormazábal Rodríguez, José Manuel Sarmiento Sotelo, José Stalin Muñoz Leal, Juan Manuel Troncoso Soto, Juvenal Alfonso Piña Garrido, Luis René Torres Méndez, Manuel Antonio Montre Méndez, Máximo Ramón Aliaga Soto, Moisés Paulino Campos Figueroa, Nelson Aquiles Ortiz Vignolo, Nelson Eduardo Iturriaga Cortes, Orlando Enrique González Moreno, Pedro Segundo Bitterlich Jaramillo, Reinaldo Alfonso Concha Orellana, Sergio Hernán Castro Andrade, Gustavo Humberto Apablaza Meneses, Héctor Carlos Díaz Cabezas, Jorge Antonio Lepileo Barrios, Luis Fernando Espinace Contreras, Oscar Belarmino La Flor Flores, Rufino Espinoza Espinoza, and Sergio Iván Díaz Lara, they were sentenced to 4 years in prison, without benefits, for their responsibility as accomplices to aggravated kidnapping. In the same case, Víctor Manuel de la Cruz San Martin Jiménez was sentenced to 4 years in prison as an accomplice, but the execution of the sentence was suspended upon verifying that he suffers from dementia, and it was ordered that he be released on bail into the custody of his family. Regarding civil reparations, Judge Crisosto ordered the payment of an indemnity of $70,000,000 (seventy million pesos) for moral damages to Rebelión Grez Rodríguez, the victim's daughter.

Source: cronicadigital.cl, May 9, 2014