The Court of Appeals ratified the contested sentence that sentenced the conscript soldiers to 5 years in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, as co-perpetrators of the crime. In a unanimous ruling, the Coyhaique Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that convicted four retired members of the Army for their responsibility in the crime of qualified homicide of Juan Bautista Vera Cárcamo, an illicit act perpetrated on October 10, 1973, in the rural sector of Valle Simpson in the commune.

The Court of Appeals ratified the contested sentence that sentenced the then-conscript soldiers José Sergio Silva Gutiérrez, Luis Octavio Loy Gómez, Luis Fernando Klenner Cofré, and Tomás Ernesto Paredes Venegas to 5 years in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, as co-perpetrators of the crime.

During the investigation stage, Judge Luis Sepúlveda managed to establish the following sequence of events:

• That in the first days of October 1973, approximately on the 10th of that month and year, Corporal 1st Class of the Regimiento N° 14 Aysén, Juan José González Andaur, who was also an instructor and vehicle driver for that military institution, arranged for himself and several conscript soldiers to go to the Villa Frei neighborhood sector in order to detain individuals according to a list or roster he was carrying. For this purpose, he recruited about 7 conscript soldiers from different sections, telling them they were going to carry out a raid and/or arrests, without indicating the location or the people they were going to raid or detain.
• That, as a result of the above, said military patrol, as stated, composed of Corporal González Andaur and about 7 conscript soldiers, among whom were Tomás Ernesto Paredes Venegas, Luis Fernando Klenner Cofré, and José Sergio Silva Gutiérrez, headed to the rural property where Vera Cárcamo lived, located in the sector known as Valle Simpson, approximately 23 kilometers from Coyhaique. When they approached this residence, the military patrol noticed a settler who was performing field work and using an axe to make stakes.
• That Corporal González Andaur proceeded to stop the Unimog truck, got out, and went to where the settler was, who turned out to be Juan Bautista Vera Cárcamo, telling him that he was the person they were looking for and that he "had an order to take him arrested to the Regimiento 14 Aysén," without having shown him any judicial or administrative order; rather, the corporal acted due to, as he stated, a verbal order given to him by the Regimental Commander, General Humberto Gordon.
• That the conscript soldiers Tomás Ernesto Paredes Venegas, Luis Fernando Klenner Cofré, and José Sergio Silva Gutiérrez, who formed the military patrol, each separately, when providing their versions of the events, declared that the farmer was ambushed and that Corporal Juan González Andaur gave him an order to run toward the military truck, which the man obeyed, and as he was running, the corporal gave them the order to all shoot the settler in the back. This latter situation is acknowledged by the corporal, even though he claims the order was given because the farmer, Vera Cárcamo, had resisted arrest and attempted to attack him with the axe, although he never touched him.
• That, after those shots were fired, Corporal González Andaur approached the settler Vera Cárcamo and verified that he was dead, and gave the order for the conscript soldiers of the patrol to load the corpse into the back of the Unimog truck. Some of them remained guarding the corpse, while González Andaur drove the truck back to the Regimiento 14 Aysén, and subsequently, still with the corpse on the vehicle, moved the vehicle to the premises of the Regional Intendancy where the Regimental Commander had offices in his capacity as Regional Intendant. He then took the truck again and drove it to the Regiment where Captain Joaquín Molina allegedly gave him instructions to go and bury the deceased clandestinely in the local cemetery of the El Claro Sector, which he effectively did in the presence of some of the victim's relatives, who were ordered to remain silent about these events.
• That, finally, as a result of this investigation, the precise location where Juan Bautista Vera Cárcamo had been buried was located; his body was exhumed, and subsequently, according to forensic examinations, his remains were identified and handed over to his relatives for their Christian burial.

Source: pjud.cl, October 1, 2018