Tucapel Case: Army high command officer prosecuted. As an accomplice to the crime

The former director of the Military Industries and Engineering Command, Hernán Ramírez Hald, a member of the Army high command, was prosecuted as an accomplice to the crime against the labor leader. The high-ranking officer is still in active service, as his retirement will become effective starting in December.

Investigating judge Sergio Muñoz, who is presiding over the case regarding the assassination of labor leader Tucapel Jiménez, prosecuted the active Army general and member of the institution's high command, Hernán Ramírez Hald, as an accomplice to the crime.

Ramírez Hald is currently the 18th most senior officer in the Army, and although he will retire in December—due to the recent restructuring of the high command—he still directs the Military Industries and Engineering Command.

Muñoz had wanted to prosecute Ramírez Hald since the middle of this year, but had not managed to gather sufficient evidence. It is estimated that the recent statement by Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez helped in that endeavor.

Source: elmostrador.cl, November 10, 2000

First-instance ruling issued 20 years after the crime TUCAPEL CASE: Life imprisonment for Herrera; Corbalán acquitted

For his responsibility in the qualified homicide of Tucapel Jiménez, General (Ret.) Arturo Ramsés Alvarez Sgolia was sentenced to 10 years of presidio mayor in its minimum degree as a perpetrator, without benefits.

After an exhaustive investigation of a little over three years, the first-instance ruling of the extraordinary investigating judge, Sergio Muñoz, was released in the case of the crime against Tucapel Jiménez on February 25, 1982.

The ruling, delayed during the morning due to computer problems, acquitted Major (Ret.) Alvaro Corbalán Castilla, Brigadier (Ret.) Roberto Urbano Schmied Zanzi, civilian Julio Olivares Silva, and Carabineros Captain Miguel Hernández Oyarzo, who had been prosecuted as accomplices.

For his responsibility in the qualified homicide of Tucapel Jiménez, Muñoz sentenced General (Ret.) Arturo Ramsés Alvarez Sgolia to 10 years of presidio mayor in its minimum degree as a perpetrator, without benefits.

As the perpetrator of qualified homicide against the former president of the ANEF and the carpenter Juan Alegría Mundaca, Major (Ret.) Carlos Herrera Jiménez was sentenced to life imprisonment without benefits.

Meanwhile, Brigadier (Ret.) Víctor Pinto Pérez and Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Maximiliano Ferrer Lima were sentenced to 8 years of presidio mayor in its minimum degree as perpetrators of qualified homicide, without benefits.

As perpetrators, Miguel Letelier Verdugo and Sub-officer Manuel Contreras Donaire were sentenced to 6 years of presidio mayor in its minimum degree, without benefits. Major Juan Carlos Arriagada Echeverría and Jorge León Alessandrini (civilian) were sentenced by Magistrate Sergio Muñoz to 3 years of presidio menor in its medium degree as accomplices (remitted sentence).

General (Ret.) Fernando Torres Silva (former Army auditor), General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Hald, and General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Rurange were sentenced to 800 days of presidio menor in its medium degree (remitted sentence) as accomplices.

As a concealer, Colonel (Ret.) Enrique Ibarra was sentenced to 541 days of presidio menor in its medium degree. Finally, the weapon used in the crime was confiscated: a .22 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, serial number 22547, which is registered under the name of the General Directorate of National Mobilization.

Judicial Process In three years of investigation, Judge Sergio Muñoz shook the Army. In 1999, he prosecuted the former director of the CNI, the now-deceased Humberto Gordon, and in June of that year, he beat Juan Guzmán to the punch by sending a judicial request to Pinochet during his detention in London.

However, his most daring step was prosecuting Hernán Ramírez Hald, the first general in active service to be charged in a human rights case. Ramírez Hald was formally charged on November 22, but one day earlier, President Ricardo Lagos received him in his office for an hour to support the general's gesture of retiring from the Army and facing the trial as a civilian.

The former officer was detained at the Telecommunications Command until he was released on bail in mid-2000. It should be recalled that Judge Muñoz took over the investigation in April 1999, after 17 years of fruitless work by Judge Sergio Valenzuela Patiño, who was removed from the case by the Supreme Court.

Source: La Tercera, August 5, 2002

Supreme Court issues sentence for the qualified kidnapping of two young men during the dictatorship

The Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, resolved to accept an appeal for cassation that condemns the State for moral damages to Magaly González Pérez, the sister of one of the victims, who will receive compensation of 70 million pesos.

The Supreme Court issued a sentence for the qualified kidnappings of José Flores Araya and Rodolfo González Pérez, which occurred in 1974 during the Pinochet dictatorship. As reported by Radio BíoBío, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, resolved to accept an appeal for cassation that condemns the State for moral damages to Magaly González Pérez, the sister of one of the victims, who will receive compensation of 70 million pesos.

This ratified the conviction of former DINA members César Manríquez Bravo, Marcelo Moren Brito, Gerardo Urrich González, Manuel Carevic Cubillos, Hernán Ramírez Hald, and Haroldo Latorre Sánchez to 10-year sentences.

The ruling details that "the indemnity action deduced as being of a merely patrimonial nature, because the facts upon which it is based are unrelated to a contractual or extra-contractual relationship, but rather constitute a crime against humanity, from which emanates, in addition to the criminal action, a civil one for reparation."

Source: El Mostrador, February 27, 2015

General (Ret.) Hernán Ramírez Hald sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison

The Criminal Chamber of the Honorable Supreme Court of Justice sentenced Army General (Ret.) Hernán RAMÍREZ HALD to 10 years and 1 day in prison as a perpetrator of the qualified kidnapping of communist militant José Orlando Flores Araya, which occurred in 1974.

Once the execution of the sentence is ordered, the General (Ret.) must enter the Punta Peuco prison to serve his sentence. For the same victim, the same crime, and also as a perpetrator, Army Colonel (Ret.) Haroldo LATORRE SÁNCHEZ was sentenced to 10 years and 1 day in prison.

The Criminal Chamber also sentenced former DINA agents Gerardo URRICH GONZÁLEZ and Manuel CAREVIC CUBILLOS to 10 years and 1 day in prison as perpetrators of the qualified kidnapping of Chilean Air Force conscript and former DINA agent Rodolfo González Pérez, an event that took place in 1974.

For both victims, who are currently forcibly disappeared, the Criminal Chamber also sentenced former DINA agents César MANRÍQUEZ BRAVO and Marcelo MOREN BRITO to 10 years and 1 day in prison as perpetrators of qualified kidnapping.

The Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security is a co-adjuvant party in both cases, and its participation was a fundamental contribution to the judicial resolutions that culminated in the final sentence of the Honorable Supreme Court.

In August 2002, General RAMÍREZ HALD was sentenced by Judge Sergio Muñoz to 800 days of remitted prison as a concealer of the assassination of labor leader Tucapel Jiménez, which occurred on February 25, 1982.

On that occasion, RAMÍREZ HALD was the only officer in active service to be convicted, and for that reason, he was called to retire from the institution. Two years later, the Criminal Chamber of the Honorable Supreme Court confirmed this sentence, which the high-ranking officer served in freedom under the supervision of the Gendarmerie.

In the case of conscript Rodolfo González, according to the judicial investigation, after the 1973 military coup, he became part of the DINA. As such, he performed surveillance duties at various detention centers and at the Military Hospital, guarding some detainees.

However, González began to sympathize with the detainees, serving as a courier for communication with their families. While performing duties at the Military Hospital, he provided the same help to detainee Luz Arce Sandoval, who was hospitalized due to a gunshot wound.

Later, Luz Arce became a collaborating agent for the DINA and, according to the case records, denounced the conscript. González Pérez was arrested on July 23, 1974, and taken to Villa Grimaldi, where he was brutally tortured, leading him to attempt suicide.

His name is inscribed on the list of the 119 forcibly disappeared persons of "Operation Colombo." In the case of José Flores Araya, he was detained on August 23, 1974, by a patrol under the command of then-Lieutenant Haroldo LATORRE and taken to the Army Non-Commissioned Officers School.

There, he was placed under the charge of then-Lieutenant Hernán RAMÍREZ HALD, who was the commander of the facility's Section II of Intelligence, which was in charge of the detainees. From there, Flores Araya was taken to the Villa Grimaldi center, from where his whereabouts have remained unknown to this day.

Source: mediabanco.com, March 3, 2015