The resolution of the highest court ratified the convictions against those responsible for this series of illicit acts, which affected 31 victims. The Supreme Court issued a final judgment in the investigation into various crimes of aggravated kidnapping and torture, perpetrated between September and October 1973, in the sectors of Rahue, San Juan de la Costa, Puyehue, Río Negro, Puerto Octay, Río Bueno, Pilmaiquén, and others in the province of Osorno.

In a split decision, the ministers of the Second Chamber, Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmtesch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas, ratified the ruling of the Court of Appeals of Temuco which—on January 29, 2013—issued a sentence for the series of crimes committed by Carabineros personnel from a police station located on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

The resolution of the highest court ratified the convictions against those responsible for this series of illicit acts, which affected 31 victims: -Adrián Fernández Hernández: 15 years in prison. Without benefits. -Rolando Becker Soliz: 12 years in prison.

Without benefits; -Rafael Pérez Torres: 12 years in prison. Without benefits; -Gustavo Muñoz Albornoz: 10 years and one day in prison. Without benefits; -Germán García: 8 years in prison. Without benefits; -Raúl Enrique Zapata: 8 years in prison.

Without benefits; -Camilo Astete Cáceres: 7 years in prison. Without benefits; -Carlos Obando Rodríguez: 5 years in prison. Granted supervised release; -Nelson Rodríguez Guerrero: 4 years in prison. Granted supervised release; -Antonio Baros Muñoz: 4 years in prison.

Granted supervised release; -Héctor Matus Martínez: 3 years and one day in prison. Granted supervised release; -Francisco Ovando Cárcamo: 3 years and one day in prison. Granted supervised release; -Guido Almonacid Almonacid: 3 years and one day in prison.

Granted supervised release; -Mario Cabello Yáñez: 700 days in prison. Granted conditional remission; -René Bórquez Angulo: 700 days in prison. Granted conditional remission; -Orozimbo Sepúlveda Ignao: 700 days in prison.

Granted conditional remission; -Renato Lezana Lezana: 600 days in prison. Granted conditional remission; -Amado Beck Hernández Rivas: 600 days in prison. Granted conditional remission; -Sergio Conejeros Ortega: 600 days in prison.

Granted conditional remission; -Renato Padilla Etter: acquitted; -Jorge Barrientos Camadro: acquitted; -Armando Ángulo Fuchslocher: acquitted; -Pablo Mansilla Bórquez: acquitted; -Dagoberto Gajardo Cerón: acquitted, and -Nelson Soto Rubilar: acquitted.

According to the Supreme Court ruling, this series of crimes are crimes against humanity, and therefore are imprescriptible and cannot be amnestied: “Crimes against humanity are defined as those injustices that not only contravene the legal interests commonly guaranteed by criminal laws, but at the same time imply a denial of the moral personality of man, such that for the configuration of this illicit act, there exists an intimate connection between common crimes and an added value that arises from the disregard and contempt for the dignity of the person, because the main characteristic of this figure is the cruel manner in which various criminal acts are perpetrated, which contradict in an evident and manifest way the most basic concept of humanity; also highlighting the presence of cruelty toward a special class of individuals, thus combining an eminent intentional element, as a specific inner tendency of the agent's will. Ultimately, they constitute an outrage against human dignity and represent a grave and manifest violation of the rights and freedoms proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reaffirmed and developed in other relevant international instruments,” the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: “Among the characteristics that distinguish this type of transgression are imprescriptibility, the impossibility of granting amnesty, and the impossibility of establishing exemptions from responsibility that intend to prevent the investigation and sanctioning of those responsible for such grave violations of essential rights such as torture, summary, extra-legal or arbitrary executions, and forced disappearances, all of which are prohibited by international human rights law. Thus, taking into account the nature of the events investigated in this case and as they were presented in the ruling under review, as well as the context in which they must undoubtedly be inscribed and the participation that members of the State have had in them, there is no doubt that they must be subsumed in light of international humanitarian law within the category of crimes against humanity and that they must be eradicated, as they deserve such reprobation from the universal conscience for attacking fundamental human values that no convention, pact, or positive norm can repeal, weaken, or conceal.” The ruling was adopted with the dissenting votes of ministers Juica and Brito, who were in favor of not applying the principle of partial prescription in the case of one of the convicted individuals.

Source: radio.uchile.cl, March 21, 2014