The visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana, issued an indictment against former members of the Carabineros (police) and the army for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated homicide, illegal burial, and illegal exhumation of 18 workers from the El Morro, El Carmen-Maitenes, and Pemehue estates, located in the foothills of the Mulchén area.

In the resolution (case file 30.2007), Judge Aldana indicted the former Carabineros members: Jacob del Carmen Ortiz Palma, Juan de Dios Higueras Álvarez, Osvaldo Enrique Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña, as perpetrators of the aggravated homicides of José Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz Acuña, Luis Alberto Godoy Sandoval, Miguel del Carmen Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Alfonso Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Exequiel Albornoz González, Jerónimo Humberto Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, and José Fernando Gutiérrez Ascencio, crimes perpetrated on October 6 and 7, 1973.

These former Carabineros were also indicted as perpetrators of the aggravated kidnapping of: Juan de Dios Laura Brevis, José Florencio Yáñez Durán, Celsio Nicasio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo José Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo, and Guillermo José Albornoz González, perpetrated starting on October 5, 1973.

These State agents were also indicted as perpetrators of the crime of illegal burial of the 12 victims of homicide.

Meanwhile, former army officers Jaime García Zamorano and Julio Reyes Garrido, and former non-commissioned officers José Puga Pascua, José Iturriaga Valenzuela, Jaime Muller Avilés, Julio Fuentes Chavarriga, Luis Palacios Torres, Juan Cares Molina, and Juan Carlos Balboa Ortega were indicted as accessories to 11 counts of homicide—except for that of Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme—and the crime of illegal exhumation of said victims.

During the investigation phase, the visiting judge determined that the 18 victims were detained by army personnel from the Los Ángeles Regiment No. 13 and the Mulchén Carabineros Station between October 5 and 7, 1973, at the El Morro, El Carmen-Maitenes, and Pemehue estates in the area.

They were executed by firing squad and buried at those locations, while others were buried in the Mulchén Cemetery or on the banks of the Renaico River, where the remains stayed for more than 5 years.

Between late 1978 and early 1979, personnel from the "Húsares" Regiment of Angol, in compliance with a cryptogram from the Army General Command of the time, removed the remains of those executed in October 1973 and took them to an unknown destination, carrying out the "Operation Television Removal" (Operación retiro de televisores), which was ordered by the dictator to make the remains of the forcibly disappeared victims vanish.

"Operation Television Removal" is one of the most bestial actions committed by the military dictatorship, by express order of the tyrant, organized with promptness by the "impeccable" CNI chief, Odlanier Mena, and executed with criminal zeal by the hordes of agents who reveled in the terror they provoked and caused among their victims, the victims' families, and the population in general.

Acts like these cannot continue to go unpunished. It only remains to hope that Aldana and the courts take charge of administering justice.

Source: resumen.cl, July 15, 2016

Ridiculous sentences against former Carabineros and military personnel for crimes and illegal burials in Mulchén

The ruling issued this Monday the 30th by the visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Concepción Court of Appeals, Carlos Aldana, has caused indignation among the families of the victims of the Mulchén case.

The judge sentenced 11 former members of the army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated homicide, illegal burial, and illegal exhumation of 18 victims executed in Mulchén in October 1973, whose remains were subsequently illegally exhumed to make them disappear.

Aldana sentenced all the defendants to ridiculous penalties given the gravity and magnitude of the criminal offenses investigated and the fact that they are crimes against humanity; furthermore, the ruling grants seven of the convicted individuals the benefit of supervised release, which translates into disguised impunity.

Family members of the victims and plaintiff lawyers have already expressed their intention to appeal the ruling, seeking sentences consistent with the crimes committed and the sense of justice.

In the ruling (case file 30-2007 and accumulated cases), Judge Aldana sentenced the former Carabineros: Jacob del Carmen Ortiz Palma, Juan de Dios Higueras Álvarez, Osvaldo Enrique Díaz Díaz, and Héctor Armando Guzmán Saldaña to 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of the aggravated homicides of Florencio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Liborio Rubilar Gutiérrez, José Lorenzo Rubilar Gutiérrez, Alejandro Albornoz González, Luis Godoy Sandoval, Miguel Albornoz Acuña, Daniel Albornoz González, Alberto Albornoz González, Felidor Albornoz González, Jerónimo Sandoval Medina, Juan de Dios Roa Riquelme, and José Gutiérrez Ascencio, 12 crimes committed in October 1973 at the Carmen, Maitenes, and Pemehue estates in the commune of Mulchén. These four convicted individuals are the only ones who, in Aldana's judgment, must serve effective prison time.

Likewise, Ortiz Palma, Higueras Álvarez, Díaz Díaz, and Guzmán Saldaña must serve 5 years and one day in prison for their responsibility in the aggravated kidnappings of 6 other victims: Juan de Dios Laubra Brevis, José Yañez Durán, Celsio Vivanco Carrasco, Edmundo Vidal Aedo, Domingo Sepúlveda Castillo, and Guillermo Albornoz González.

These crimes were committed in October 1973 at the El Morro estate. In addition, they received 541 days in prison for the illegal burial of the 12 homicide victims.

Meanwhile, the executors of "Operation Television Removal," former army officer Jaime Oscar García Zamorano, and former non-commissioned officers José María Iturriaga Valenzuela, Jaime Jorge Muller Avilés, Julio Hernán Fuentes Chavarriga, Luis Alberto Palacios Torres, and Juan Carlos Balboa Ortega were sentenced to only 3 years and one day in prison, solely as accessories to the crime of simple homicide of 11 victims from the Carmen, Maitenes, and Pemehue estates, plus 541 days in prison for their responsibility in the illegal exhumation of said victims.

In the case of former army officer Julio Guillermo Humberto Reyes Garrido, also implicated in the operation to disappear the victims, the ruling sentenced him to serve a 3-year prison term as an accessory to 11 simple homicides, and a 300-day prison term for his responsibility in the illegal exhumation of those victims.

Additionally, Judge Aldana acquitted former non-commissioned officer José Francisco Puga Pascua, and Juan Luis Cares Molina was acquitted due to his death.

"Operation Television Removal" is one of the most bestial actions committed by the military dictatorship, by express order of the tyrant, organized with promptness by the CNI and executed with criminal zeal by the hordes of agents who reveled in the terror they provoked and caused among their victims, the victims' families, and the population in general.

Between late 1978 and early 1979, a section of the "Húsares" Regiment of Angol, after receiving a cryptogram from the Army General Command of the time, went to the sites of the illegal burials, exhumed the remains, and made them disappear, despite the fact that a visiting judge from the Concepción Court of Appeals was investigating the events.

Source: resumen.cl, October 31, 2017