The former strongman of Augusto Pinochet and former institutional senator was prosecuted alongside former General Hugo Prado and active-duty Colonel Marcos Bustos for the death of five members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez in 1987.

Judge Mario Carroza prosecuted active-duty Colonel Marcos Bustos and former Generals Hugo Prado and Santiago Sinclair for the crime of qualified homicide regarding the disappearance of five members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez that occurred in September 1987.

The process, known as the "case of the five," is considered emblematic by the human rights community as it is one of the final crimes of the dictatorship. In this case, the magistrate is investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder of Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, Julio Muñoz Otárola, Julián Peña Maltés, and Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, an investigation in which 18 other retired military personnel are also being prosecuted, including the former head of the Central Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI), retired General Hugo Salas Wenzel.

The resolution highlights the name of General Sinclair, considered at the time to be Augusto Pinochet's right-hand man, who even held the rank of Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Sinclair was appointed as an institutional senator representing the Army until 1997.

Source: lanacion.cl, July 17, 2008

Ruling establishes institutional responsibility of Army commanders

Judge Mario Carroza also indicted active-duty Colonel Marco Antonio Bustos as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of the five FPMR militants. The crime was coordinated between the Army leadership, its Intelligence Directorate, and the CNI.

The Aviation Command of this military branch also participated in the operation. There are now 27 retired officers and non-commissioned officers declared defendants for this crime. A coordinated action between the Army's Commander-in-Chief's office, the Army's National Intelligence Directorate (DINE), and the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), in addition to the institution's Aviation Command, was the operation to eliminate five militants of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR) in September 1987.

The coordination at the highest level was established in the judicial investigation by judges Hugo Dolmetsch, Haroldo Brito, and Mario Carroza, who have handled the case. The current magistrate in charge of the inquiry, Carroza, yesterday prosecuted the former Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army and former member of the Military Junta, retired General Santiago Sinclair Oyaneder; the retired General and former head of the DINE, Hugo Prado Contreras; and the former member of the Military Intelligence Battalion (BIE), current active-duty Colonel Marco Antonio Bustos Carrasco, who is the head of the Planning Department of the Army's Logistics Division. The three were indicted as co-perpetrators of the crime of qualified kidnapping of the five FPMR militants. The two general officers and the senior officer were arrested and held at the Military Police Battalion in the commune of Peñalolén. With these three defendants, the number of retired officers and non-commissioned officers declared defendants for this crime reached 27. Within the framework of this coordinated operation, on September 21, 2006, Judge Haroldo Brito prosecuted the then-director of the CNI, retired General Hugo Salas Wenzel, and ten other former agents of that organization, among them the operational chief Álvaro Corbalán and the head of the Anti-Subversive Brigade, Kranz Bauer Donoso. The investigation established that the five militants—Julián Peña Maltés, Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Julio Muñoz Otárola—were kidnapped between September 9 and 10, 1987, as potential exchange hostages for Army Colonel Carlos Carreño Barrera, who was kidnapped on September 1, 1987, by the FPMR. Carreño finally appeared on December 3, 1987, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, after 93 days of captivity. In his indictment, Judge Carroza maintains that the five militants were killed "once Colonel Carreño appeared." This detail is relevant, as it has never been possible to pinpoint the exact date they were murdered. This information adds coherence to the legal thesis that the dictatorship kept the five militants alive for a possible exchange until the very last moment and that their deaths were decided only after Carreño was released by his captors. It is at this moment that, according to the case records, General Santiago Sinclair began participating in the case in his capacity as Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army, or rather, as acting or executive Commander-in-Chief, given that Augusto Pinochet served as the self-appointed President of the Republic. Once Carreño was released, a meeting took place between Sinclair—who was conveying the voice of the dictator Pinochet—the head of the DINE, Prado, and the director of the CNI, Salas Wenzel. In that meeting, Sinclair ordered that the five prisoners be made to disappear. The reason was that by that date, and due to the restructuring that had been carried out, the CNI could no longer keep prisoners in its barracks. The five militants had already been kidnapped, interrogated, and tortured for three months, and the case could become another weapon against Pinochet one year before the 1988 plebiscite. When Carreño was kidnapped, the DINE, through its operational body, the Army Intelligence Battalion (BIE), formed a team in charge of investigating the colonel's kidnapping. The officers of that team, among whom were the current active-duty Colonel Marco Antonio Bustos and the then-head of the BIE, current retired General Julio Cerda Carrasco—also indicted—maintained a close link with the CNI throughout the duration of Carreño's captivity. Its members were even present several times at the Borgoño barracks. Sinclair's imprisonment “My General, your Army is ready for whatever you need,” General Santiago Sinclair told General Augusto Pinochet on the night of October 5, 1988, when it was already known internally that the dictator had lost the plebiscite and would have to leave power. That episode accounts for Sinclair's close loyalty to his superior. At that time, just as when the death and disappearance of the five militants—for which he is now prosecuted and detained—was decided, Sinclair was formally the Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Army, but in practice, he was its highest authority, because Pinochet occupied the nation's highest office by the grace of his Constitution. Hence, his prosecution and detention are received in the human rights world as a signal that paves the way for other prosecutions of high-ranking officials of that time. The news also has another institutional edge. Another of those prosecuted is still in the service of the institution. This is Colonel Marco Antonio Bustos, head of the Planning Department of the Army's Logistics Division. Judge Mario Carroza, in charge of the investigation, also indicted the then-director of the Army's Intelligence Directorate (DINE), Hugo Prado Contreras, as the perpetrator of the kidnapping of the five FPMR militants. The magistrate established that the crime was coordinated between the Army leadership, the DINE, and the CNI, and that the Aviation Command of this military branch also participated in the operation. Aboard the Puma The method chosen to make the five militants disappear was the same one used by the DINA to make its victims disappear: kill them and throw the bodies into the sea. Thus, through Sinclair and with Pinochet's knowledge, the operation was authorized for an Army Aviation Command (CAE) helicopter to be used to drop the bodies into the sea. They were murdered at Borgoño, and their bodies, properly bagged and tied to pieces of rail, were taken to the Peldehue military facility, north of Santiago, where they were loaded aboard the CAE Puma helicopter commanded by officers Víctor Campo Valladares and Hugo Barría Rogers. The commander of the CAE in 1987 was Colonel Aquiles Navarrete Izanortegui, who is also indicted in the process. The last forcibly disappeared José Julián Peña Maltés: Single, 36 years old at the time of his kidnapping. He went into exile in France in January 1974. In 1985, his ban on entering the country was lifted. The exact date of his return to Chile is unknown, but it is known that he was living clandestinely at the time of his kidnapping. He was last seen alive on September 9. His family learned of his disappearance on September 15, 1987, through a phone call from an unidentified woman. In November of that year, the Investigations police reported that there was no record of his entry into the country, “so it is reasonable to assume that he has not yet returned.” His habeas corpus petition was rejected. Julio Muñoz Otárola: Separated, 27 years old at the time of his disappearance. He was married to Cecilia Magni, "Commander Tamara," a member of the commando that attempted to assassinate Pinochet in September 1986, who was later murdered in Los Queñes along with "Commander José Miguel," both of the FPMR. According to the Investigations police, when he disappeared, he had two pending arrest warrants against him, “so it is presumable that he is in hiding trying to evade the action of justice.” The habeas corpus petition in his favor was rejected. Manuel Jesús Sepúlveda Sánchez: Married, 27 years old at the time of his detention. He lived in the Ñuñoa commune, but his family resided in Valparaíso, where they last saw him on September 8. His friends saw him in Santiago on the morning of the 9th and agreed to meet him in the afternoon; he never arrived. According to the CChDH (Chilean Commission for Human Rights) at the time, some witnesses reported that he was detained on September 10 at the corner of Catedral and San Martín by civilians who forced him into a utility van. His habeas corpus petition was rejected. Alejandro Pinochet Arenas: Single, 23 years old at the time of his disappearance. Also residing in Valparaíso and passing through Santiago, he was supposed to return home on September 18, but that did not happen. According to witnesses, he was kidnapped on September 10 while traveling on a public bus, from which he was forcibly removed by civilians at the corner of Compañía and Amunátegui. In 1986, he had been sought at his home in the port city by order of Prosecutor Torres in relation to the attack against General Pinochet that occurred on September 7, 1986, in the Cajón del Maipo. Gonzalo Iván Fuenzalida: Single, 25 years old at the time of his disappearance. His girlfriend was the last person to see him, on September 8, when he stopped by a hardware store where she worked. They agreed to meet later at a restaurant in Estación Central, but they never saw each other again. In those days, his girlfriend was also detained for a “case about which there is a prohibition on reporting,” maintained El Mercurio. It was later learned that it was Patricia Cancino, detained on October 4. His habeas corpus petition was also rejected.

Source: lanacion.cl, July 18, 2008

Case File No. 39.122-C: Qualified Kidnapping Case of Julián Peña, Alejandro Pinochet, Manuel Sepúlveda, Gonzalo Fuenzalida, Julio Muñoz

M.- That the following are sentenced

AQUILES NAVARRETE IZARNOTEGUI, FERNANDO RAFAEL ROJAS TAPIA, JULIO CERDA CARRASCO, MARCO ANTONIO BUSTOS CARRASCO, AND HUGO PRADO CONTRERAS, already identified in the case files, for their participation as accessories after the fact in the crimes of Qualified Kidnapping of Julián Peña Maltés, Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Julio Muñoz Otárola, each to the penalty of THREE YEARS AND ONE DAY OF MINOR IMPRISONMENT IN ITS MAXIMUM DEGREE, and the accessory penalties of suspension from public office or position during the term of the sentence, and the payment of the costs of this case.

Source: Judiciary, October 14, 2013

Forcibly disappeared of 1987: Sentences for CNI agents confirmed and increased

The Court of Appeals ruled on the first-instance judgment regarding the disappearance of Julián Peña Maltés, Alejandro Pinochet Arenas, Manuel Sepúlveda Sánchez, Gonzalo Fuenzalida Navarrete, and Julio Muñoz Otárola.

The sentences for 27 former agents of the Central Nacional de Informaciones were increased, and those of four others were confirmed, including Hugo Salas Wenzel, former director of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), and Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, to 15 years.

In a unanimous ruling, the Eleventh Chamber of the appellate court—composed of judges Mario Gómez Montoya, Alejandro Rivera, and Carlos Carrillo—ratified the sentence handed down in October 2013 by the visiting judge Mario Carroza; however, it modified the penalties applied and the participation of some of those sentenced for the kidnappings of the five members of the Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez (FPMR), which corresponds to the last case of forcibly disappeared persons from the period between September 11, 1973, and March 10, 1990.

In the resolution, the 15-year prison sentences were ratified for: Hugo Salas Wenzel, former director of the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI), and Álvaro Corbalán Castilla, as perpetrators of the crimes.

Likewise, the sentences of 10 years and one day in prison for Iván Quiroz Ruiz and Gonzalo Maass del Valle were confirmed for their responsibility as perpetrators of the crimes. The sentences for Raúl Durán Martinez, Luis Santibáñez Aguilera, Víctor Ruiz Godoy, Juan Jorquera Abarzúa, Hernán Vásquez Villegas, Sergio Mateluna Pino, José Fuentes Pastenes, Juan Carlos Orellana Morales, Roberto Rodríguez Manquel, Alejandro Astudillo Adonis, José Salas Fuentes, Heraldo Velozo Gallegos, Marco Antonio Pincheira Ubilla, Jorge Ahumada Molina, José Morales Morales, Ema Ceballos Núñez, Patricio González Cortez, César Acuña Luengo, and René Valdovinos Morales were increased from 5 years and one day to 10 years and one day in prison, also in their capacity as perpetrators. Meanwhile, for former agent Luis Sanhueza Ross, the court maintained the sentence of 5 years and one day in prison for his responsibility as a perpetrator of the crimes. For agents Manuel Morales Acevedo and Manuel Ramírez Montoya, the sentence was increased from 3 years and one day to 5 years and one day, in their capacity as perpetrators of the crimes. For agents Aquiles Navarrete Izarnotegui, Fernando Rojas Tapia, Julio Cerda Carrasco, Marco Antonio Bustos Carrasco, and Hugo Prado Contreras, a sentence of 5 years and one day in prison was handed down for their responsibility as accomplices to the crimes, modifying their initial participation as accessories after the fact and, consequently, increasing their initial sentence of 3 years and one day in prison. In the case of Rodrigo Pérez Martínez and Víctor Campos Valladares, a sentence of 3 years and one day in prison was handed down—with the benefit of supervised release—for their responsibility as accomplices, changing their initial participation as accessories after the fact and increasing the initial sentence of 541 days in prison. Finally, Rodrigo Barría Roger, initially sentenced—as an accessory after the fact—to 541 days in prison, was acquitted. In the civil aspect, the Santiago Court confirmed the compensation claims filed against the State of Chile, determining that the treasury must pay 50 million pesos to each of the three parents and one child who were plaintiffs, and 20 million pesos to each of the nine siblings of the victims.

Source: villagrimaldi.cl, June 12, 2015