In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court sentenced four former conscripts and a public employee who collaborated with the Army for their responsibility, in varying degrees, in the consummated crimes of illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide.

These crimes were committed in October 1973 in a rural area of the Curarrehue commune. The Supreme Court accepted appeals for cassation on the merits and, in a replacement sentence, convicted four former conscripts and a public employee who collaborated with the Army for their responsibility, in varying degrees, in the consummated crimes of illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide.

These crimes were committed in October 1973 in a rural area of the Curarrehue commune. In a unanimous ruling (case file 361-2020), the Second Chamber of the high court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Minister María Teresa Letelier, and Minister Diego Simpértigue—confirmed the first-instance sentence issued by the minister for extraordinary cases, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, with the following declarations: “

I.

Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete is sentenced to a single penalty of four years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree and the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for political rights and absolute disqualification for public offices and positions during the term of the sentence, in his capacity as an accomplice to two crimes of qualified homicide against Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, and to a single penalty of ten (10) Monthly Tax Units as an accomplice to the crimes of political imprisonment and torture committed against the same victims.

II.

Gabriel Antonio Sandoval Catalán is sentenced to suffer two penalties of sixty days of imprisonment in its maximum degree, and the accessory penalties of suspension from public office and position during the term of the sentence, in his capacity as the perpetrator of the repeated crimes of illegal detention perpetrated against Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete, Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, and Abel Colpihueque Licán, and the crime of political imprisonment and torture perpetrated against the first two aforementioned persons.

III.

The accused Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés and Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada are sentenced to suffer each a single penalty of forty days of imprisonment in its medium degree, and the accessory penalties of suspension from public office and position during the term of the sentence, as perpetrators of the crimes of political imprisonment and torture against Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán.

IV.

The accused Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés , Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada , and Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao are sentenced to suffer each a single penalty of five years of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree and the accessory penalties of absolute perpetual disqualification for political rights and absolute disqualification for public offices and positions during the term of the sentence, as perpetrators of the crimes of qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán.

V.

Regarding the alternative measures for custodial sentences established in Law 18.216, as amended by Law 20.603, for Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete, the prison sentence imposed is substituted by the alternative measure of intensive supervised release in accordance with Article 15 bis of said law and with the obligation to comply with the conditions indicated in Articles 17 and following thereof, setting an intervention period equal to that of the applied sentence, that is, four years.

For Gabriel Antonio Sandoval Catalán, in accordance with Article 4 of that legal body, the prison sentences are substituted by conditional remission, with an observation period of one year. In the case of Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés and Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, the prison sentence imposed on them is substituted by conditional remission, in accordance with Article 5 of Law 18.216, while the minor imprisonment sentence in its maximum degree imposed on them, as well as that of imprisonment for which Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao has been convicted, are substituted by the alternative measure of intensive supervised release, in accordance with Article 15 bis of said law and with the obligation to comply with the conditions indicated in Articles 17 and following thereof, setting an intervention period equal to that of the applied sentence, that is, five years.” The high court established an error of law in the challenged sentence, issued by the Temuco Court of Appeals, by considering that the "half-prescription" (gradual prescription) favored all those convicted. “Consequently, the application of the figure of half-prescription or gradual prescription of the penalty, contemplated by Article 103 of the Penal Code, is not admissible in the case of crimes against humanity, since the aforementioned qualification obliges the consideration of International Human Rights Law, which excludes the use of both total prescription and so-called half-prescription, as these institutes are understood to be closely linked in their foundations and, consequently, contrary to the ius cogens regulations originating from that sphere of International Criminal Law, which reject impunity and the imposition of penalties not proportional to the intrinsic gravity of the crimes, based on the passage of time,” the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: “Thus, by having accepted the mitigating factor of half-prescription or gradual prescription of the penalty regarding the accused, the judges of the instance committed an error of law that substantially influenced the dispositive part of the ruling, insofar as its application allowed them to reduce the penalty to be imposed in a case not permitted by law, which is why the appeals for cassation on the merits under study will be accepted regarding this chapter.” Moral Damages Likewise, the Criminal Chamber considered that the appealed sentence committed an unjustified error by reducing the compensation that the State must pay, for moral damages, to the surviving victim and the plaintiff family members. “Thus, it is evident that the judges of the instance did not set forth the arguments taken into account to reduce the indemnity amounts that, for moral damages, the first-instance ruling established regarding the civil plaintiffs, the mere assertion of it being a ‘prudential regulation’ being insufficient, since said assertion in no way allows for understanding and assessing the reason for the decision, generating, on the contrary, the impression of arbitrary action in the adoption of the judicial decision,” the Second Chamber reasons. “It is manifest, then, that the questioned sentence in its civil section—and in particular regarding the reduction in the amount to be paid to the plaintiffs for compensation for moral damages—lacks reasoning, leaving the ruling devoid of the justification required in Article 170 N° 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which constitutes the formal cassation defect denounced, which is why the appeals under analysis will be accepted,” it highlights. Therefore, it is resolved: “The amounts that the State of Chile is ordered to pay as compensation for moral damages to the civil plaintiffs Mr. Esteban Edmundo Colpihueque Licán, Mr. Belisario José Colpihueque Licán, Ms. María Irene Colpihueque Licán, Ms. Tolentina Quintonahuel Colpihueque, and Mr. Mario Alberto Colpihueque Quintonahuel are raised to the sum of $50,000,000 each, while for the plaintiff Mr. Abel Florencio Colpihueque Licán, for the same item, the State of Chile is ordered to pay $60,000,000, in all cases, plus adjustments according to the variation experienced by the Consumer Price Index from the time this ruling becomes final or enforceable and until its payment.” Chacal Patrol In the first-instance ruling, the minister for extraordinary cases for human rights violations of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, established the following facts: “

A.

That starting on September 11, 1973, Army personnel from the N° 8 ‘Tucapel’ Regiment of Temuco began to alternately carry out operations in the foothills area of the La Araucanía Region, with the objective of safeguarding border posts and detaining persons opposed to the new regime.

B.

Between the months of October 1973 and January 1974, troops from the Second Hunters Company of the N° 8 ‘Tucapel’ Regiment of Temuco moved toward the Curarrehue sector, distributing themselves into patrols that were stationed in different sectors of that commune, using rural schools and public facilities found in the city as a base for the operations.

C.

One of those patrols was stationed at the rural school owned by Mr. Manuel Llancafilo (deceased: death certificate at fs. 1910, volume VI), located in the Quiñenahuín sector, on the road to Reigolil, in the Curarrehue commune, with the objective of establishing a surveillance post and carrying out patrols in the sector.

D.

During the months following the military coup, possibly in October, Ismael Llancafilo Cayufilo (deceased: death certificate at fs. 1240, volume IV), son of Mr. Manuel Llancafilo, apparently motivated by old grudges originating from land ownership, denounced his neighbor Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete to the military, accusing him of communist militancy and of having committed crimes such as theft, cattle rustling, and incest.

For these reasons, the Army personnel stationed at the Quiñenahuín school, among whom was the conscript Gabriel Antonio Sandoval Catalán, a reserve sergeant, together with the complainant Llancafilo Cayufilo, went to the home of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete in the morning hours of a day in October 1973 and proceeded to detain him along with two of his sons named Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán and Abel Florencio Colpihueque Licán, whom they beat and subsequently took to Manuel Llancafilo’s school without carrying any order authorizing them for such an act. […]

F.

The three detainees were initially interrogated separately about two hundred meters from the house, with Alberto Colpihueque and his son Eleuterio Colpihueque being severely beaten by the apprehending personnel, while the civilian who accompanied them, Ismael Llancafilo Cayufilo, looked after the horses on which they were traveling.

Subsequently, (the detainees) were taken to the school where they were interrogated again, with Abel Colpihueque being released in the afternoon or the following day. However, Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán were forced to work for the following three or four days on the property of Ismael Llancafilo Cayufilo, ‘clearing’ the land.

G.

Days later, Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce (deceased. Death certificate at fs. 1912, volume VI), of the 2nd Hunters Company of the Tucapel Temuco Regiment, appeared at the site along with conscript soldiers Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés and Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, who were in his confidence.

There, they proceeded to interrogate and torture Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and his son Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán through beatings, wounds caused with a corvo (knife), and submersion of the head in a pot of water, practicing the so-called ‘submarine.’ Subsequently, they were loaded into an all-terrain vehicle belonging to CONAF, which was driven by Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete, a driver belonging to that public agency who collaborated with the Army.

Acting as guards were Lieutenant Espinoza and some conscript soldiers close to him who were part of the so-called ‘Chacal Patrol’ that regularly accompanied this officer. The detainees were transported to the Curarrehue commune, where they were left at the school that served as a barracks for the military troops.

H.

The following day, Lieutenant Espinoza ordered three conscripts belonging to the 4th Section of the Second Hunters Company that was under his command, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, and Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, to take the detainees out and load them into the same vehicle in which they had brought the victims from Quiñenahuín.

The driver of the vehicle was the same one who had participated in the previous procedure, that is, Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete. The detainees were tied with their hands behind their backs and wore a sack over their heads that covered them down to their torsos.

I.

Lieutenant Espinoza ordered them to leave in the direction of Puesco, and after half an hour of travel, he ordered the vehicle to take a road that deviated to the right. After advancing between fifty and one hundred meters, he ordered the vehicle to stop and had the detainees and the conscript soldiers Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, and Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao descend.

Immediately thereafter, the detainees were freed from their bindings and ordered to walk a few meters to an area where Lieutenant Espinoza ordered them to dig a pit, for which he handed a shovel to each of them. Conscript soldier Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés helped the detainees in this task.

J.

Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, aware of the fate that awaited them, begged for their lives to Lieutenant Espinoza, who jumped into the pit and proceeded to slit the throats of both detainees with his corvo.

Subsequently, he drew his weapon and finished them off by shooting them at point-blank range. Finally, he ordered the conscript soldiers Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, and Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao to cover the bodies with earth, after which they returned to the vehicle that was waiting for them near the main road and returned to Curarrehue.”

Source: pjud.cl, December 16, 2022

Former members of the Army, Navy, and Carabineros sentenced for human rights violations during the dictatorship

The justice system sentenced former members of the Army and a CONAF official for the illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete, Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, and Abel Florencio Colpihueque Licán.

At the same time, former members of the Navy and Carabineros received various sentences for their responsibility in the crimes of torture and qualified homicide of the Spanish citizen Enrique López Olmedo.

Last Wednesday, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, minister for extraordinary cases for human rights violations in Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, sentenced former members of the Army and a CONAF official for the illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete, Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, and Abel Florencio Colpihueque Licán.

The events occurred in October 1973 in the rural sector of the Curarrehue commune, La Araucanía Region. In the ruling, the minister sentenced Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés and Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada to 16-year prison terms as perpetrators of two qualified homicides, plus 4 years of intensive supervised release for the application of political imprisonment and torture.

At the same time, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao received a 16-year prison sentence as a perpetrator of the crime of homicide. Also sentenced was Gabriel Antonio Sandoval Catalán to prison terms of 3 and 4 years, with the benefit of supervised release, as a perpetrator of the crimes of illegal detention and political imprisonment and torture.

Finally, Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete, a driver for CONAF at the time, was sentenced to two five-year prison terms, with the benefit of intensive supervised release, for his participation as an accomplice in the crimes of homicide, plus the payment of two fines of 20 UTM, for his complicity in the political imprisonment and torture.

The investigation showed that, starting on September 11, 1973, Army personnel from the N° 8 "Tucapel" Regiment of Temuco began to alternately carry out operations in the foothills area of the La Araucanía Region to detain persons opposed to the dictatorship.

The ruling accepted the filed lawsuit and ordered the State of Chile to pay a total compensation of $540,000,000 (five hundred and forty million pesos) to the victims' family members.

Source: eldesconcierto.cl, May 30, 2019

Five retired military personnel accused of torturing and murdering a man and his son in Curarrehue

The military personnel were accused of the crimes of illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and his son Eleuterio. Another son, Abel Colpihueque, was tortured in Curarrehue after September 1973.

The minister for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, accused five retired military personnel of the crimes of illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and his sons Eleuterio and Abel Colpihueque Licán, which occurred in Curarrehue after September 1973.

The magistrate held Gabriel Sandoval Catalán responsible as the perpetrator of the illegal detention of Alberto Colpihueque, Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, and Abel Colpihueque Licán, and as the perpetrator of the crimes of political imprisonment and torture of Alberto Colpihueque and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán.

Álvaro Mesa also accused Sergio Vallejos Garcés and Ricardo Vásquez Estrada as co-perpetrators of the crimes of political imprisonment and torture and qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán.

Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao was held responsible as the perpetrator of the crimes of qualified homicide of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán, perpetrated in Curarrehue.

Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete was accused as an accomplice to the crimes of political imprisonment and torture and qualified homicide of the same persons. According to the magistrate's investigation, the two men were accused without foundation and motivated by previous grudges by a man identified as Ismael Llancafilo Cayufilo, who claimed they were communists, thieves, and even accused them of incest.

The Chacal patrol of the Tucapel Regiment transported Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and Eleuterio Colpihueque Licán to a vacant lot in the vicinity of Puesco, where Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce forced them to dig a pit, entered the pit with them, slit their throats with his corvo, and finished them off with shots from his service weapon, subsequently ordering the conscript soldiers who accompanied him to cover the bodies with earth.

Source: soychile.cl, December 6, 2016

Retired military personnel remain in preventive detention for human rights crimes in Araucanía in 1973

The minister for human rights cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa, subjected six retired Army personnel to prosecution and preventive detention, accused of detentions, political imprisonment and torture, and homicides perpetrated in Curarrehue in 1973.

The case stems from the qualified homicides of Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and his son Eleuterio, and the illegal detention and political imprisonment and torture of Abel Colpihueque Licán, events that occurred in the Curarrehue commune after September 1973, by the Second Hunters Company of the Tucapel Regiment of Temuco, which moved to the border sector of the region.

Currently, Gabriel Antonio Sandoval Catalán, Ismael Alberto Llancafilo Cayufilo, Sergio Orlando Vallejos Garcés, Ricardo Jesús Vásquez Estrada, Héctor Mauricio Villablanca Huenulao, and Sergio Enrique Poblete Poblete are undergoing prosecution and are in preventive detention as perpetrators of the crimes of illegal detention, political imprisonment and torture, and qualified homicide.

According to the investigation led by Minister Mesa, it is detailed that the military personnel under the command of Army Lieutenant Manuel Espinoza Ponce, who led the "Chacal" patrol, after several days of detention, allegedly transported Alberto Colpihueque Navarrete and his son Eleuterio in a CONAF pickup truck, tied with their hands behind their backs and with a sack over their heads covering them down to their torsos, bound for the border zone.

In the vicinity of the Quillelhue lagoon, the vehicle stopped, the detainees were taken down, and they were ordered to walk a few meters to an area where Lieutenant Espinoza forced them to dig a pit, at which moment the two men begged for their lives, which caused the military officer to jump into the pit and slit their throats with his corvo, after which he shot them at point-blank range, ordering the conscript soldiers who accompanied him to cover the bodies with earth.

Minister Álvaro Mesa Latorre currently oversees 110 cases totaling 244 volumes, of which 4 are in the plenary stage; 3 have been ruled upon and 4 dismissed, registering 57 indictments, with 139 people currently under prosecution.

Source: BioBio.cl, July 18, 2015