The visiting minister of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, indicted 21 retired members of the Chilean Air Force (FACH) as authors and accessories to the crimes of aggravated homicide, unlawful coercion, and the detention of 5 citizens, perpetrated during the months of September and October 1973 inside the city's Maquehue Air Base.

The magistrate held Hugo Crisóstomo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera responsible as authors of the aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and as authors of unlawful coercion against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, all crimes occurring between September and October 1973 in Temuco.

Furthermore, he held Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras and Emilio Sandoval Poo responsible as accessories to the aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and as accomplices to unlawful coercion against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, all crimes occurring between September and October 1973 in Temuco.

The resolution also indicted Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco, Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, and Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella as accessories to the aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and as accessories to the crimes of unlawful coercion against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, all crimes occurring between September and October 1973 in the city.

Finally, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud was indicted as an author of the aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena, and Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía was held responsible as an author of the aggravated homicides of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, crimes perpetrated during October 1973 in Temuco.

The magistrate established that after September 11, 1973, a group of Chilean Air Force members was established at the Maquehue Air Base, to which reserve officers of the institution were also invited. They detained opponents of the military regime and subsequently took them to the facility, where they remained detained and were subjected to unlawful coercion.

In parallel, various judicial proceedings were carried out at the Military Prosecutor's Office against the detainees, who were subjected to unlawful coercion and other inhuman, cruel, or degrading treatment.

Regarding the aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, Minister Mesa established:

“A.- That Hernán Henríquez Aravena, a surgeon and Zonal Director of Health for Temuco as of September 1973, was summoned by the military authority of the time to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office of this city, located inside the No. 8 “Tucapel” Infantry Regiment. On September 12, 1973, Henríquez appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home.

B.- That on the night of September 12 or 13, 1973, Carabineros from the 2nd Precinct of Temuco raided the home of Hernán Henríquez Aravena, removed him from it, and transferred him to the aforementioned unit.

He spent the night there and was seen by several witnesses who have testified to that effect in the proceedings. The following day, he was again placed at the disposal of the Temuco Military Prosecutor's Office, where his transfer to the city jail was ordered, followed by an order for total house arrest, with the express order to report first thing on September 25, 1973, to the military tribunal (…)

D.- That on the night of September 24, 1973, the home of Hernán Henríquez Aravena was raided again, this time by personnel from the Investigative Police who were attached to the Tucapel regiment and who worked interchangeably for the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section.

After a while, the patrol left the scene. However, later another patrol appeared, this time from the Carabineros 2nd Precinct, who removed Dr. Hernán Henríquez from his home, taking him away without offering any explanation to his wife.

H.- That as has been proven in the proceedings, Hernán Henríquez Aravena was, at the time of his detention, under the precautionary measure of total house arrest, issued by the Temuco Military Prosecutor's Office, without any record in the proceedings that either the Military Prosecutor's Office or its legal advisor, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud (who acted as ad-hoc prosecutor and de facto prosecutor), had carried out the factual or legal actions to account for a person who was procedurally at their disposal.

In any case, there is no record of the military file under which Henríquez Aravena was being investigated, as noted in the action on page 86, which further aggravates the impact of his deprivation of liberty.

I.- That Alejandro Flores Rivera, a nursing assistant in the Psychiatry Department of the Temuco Regional Hospital and President of the National Federation of Health Workers (Fenats), was summoned via Communiqué No. 11 dated September 12, 1973, to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office of this city, located inside the No. 8 “Tucapel” Infantry Regiment.

That day, Flores appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home.

L.- That on October 5, 1973, the local authority issued Communiqué No. 9, which was signed by the Commander of the Temuco Military Garrison, which in point No. 2 informed the community that “Due to the escape attempt planned by ALEJANDRO FLORES RIVERA and in complicity with HERNÁN HENRÍQUEZ ARAVENA while they were detained at the barracks of the No. 3 Helicopter Group, and in collusion with individuals from the outside who tried to help them, they were eliminated by the Guard.

The other subjects fled the scene without any other casualties. These extremist elements were buried.” Said Communiqué was published in the newspaper “El Austral” of Temuco, whose daily circulation was previously reviewed by the Maquehue Air Base Squadron Captain, Manuel Volante Leonardi, who was an aide to Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas and, additionally, in charge of Public Relations at the Cautín Intendancy.”

Regarding the unlawful coercion of Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, the ruling states:

“A.- That Jorge Silhi Zarzar, a 4th-year high school student at the Liceo de Hombres No. 1 in Temuco and a member of the MIR, was detained at the end of October 1973 from his home by a Chilean Air Force patrol led by Hugo Crisóstomo Ferrada Carrasco, a civilian employee and nurse at the Maquehue Base, whom he recognized immediately as the person who, as an intern for Dr.

Antonio Said Yaar, had previously performed some dressings for him following minor surgery performed by said doctor in his private practice.

B.- That once they approached the Maquehue Air Base, one of the patrol members ordered him to cover his head with the jacket he was wearing. The detainee was left in a room, lying on a cot with a mattress, and blindfolded.

During the night, Silhi Zarzar was taken out of said room and brought to another building where he was subjected to interrogations and unlawful coercion, such as asphyxiation by having his head placed in nylon bags, application of electricity, physical beatings with boards and sticks, and other known techniques.

At a certain point, the nurse who had detained him provided him with Coramina in a glass of water. This person also directed the interrogations, and whenever Silhi's answers seemed false to him, he remained in the hands of the torture team.

This situation continued for more than ten days, several times a day. Finally, Jorge Silhi was released and taken to his home by Jorge Freygang Campaña (R.I.P.).

C.- That Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, as of September 1973, worked at Socoagro as an accounting assistant. The comptroller of that company was a Chilean Air Force squadron captain named Olivares. On October 8 or 9 of that year, in the morning hours, while he was at work, in the presence of the aforementioned comptroller, he was detained by Maquehue Air Base non-commissioned officer Orlando Garrido Riquelme (R.I.P.), with whom he boarded a patrol vehicle and was taken to the aforementioned base.

As soon as he boarded the jeep in which they were traveling, they put a blindfold on his eyes. He was left in a room where there were two or three beds. That same day, he was transferred to an outdoor location where they ordered him to keep his hands raised for a period of almost an hour.

Due to fatigue, Painemal lowered his hands for a moment, receiving a blow with a rifle butt. At all times, despite being blindfolded, he felt that there were more people detained around him. After this, he returned with other people to the room described above, among whom he could recognize the voice of Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, also an accountant.

F.- That Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, a member of the Communist Party, accountant, and professor at the Higher Institute of Commerce in the city of Temuco as of September 1973, while teaching there, was detained by a Chilean Air Force patrol, among whose members he recognized Orlando Garrido Riquelme.

He was taken to the Maquehue Air Base, but before entering the unit, he was blindfolded. At the guard post, they took his shoes and all his personal effects and laid him on a stretcher or bunk. Later, he was taken to another sector to be interrogated.

The next day, during the morning, another interrogation began, but this time he was physically coerced through the application of blows to different parts of his body, in addition to other methods of suffering. This procedure was repeated for ten days, a period during which he was taken to the courtyard and other parts of the unit, always blindfolded.

G.- That one day he was taken to the room where he was being interrogated and someone asked him to remove his blindfold. He was then able to recognize the person in front of him as the brother of a classmate Riquelme had.

This person who was interrogating him was a Reserve Officer who was a civilian pilot, whose name is Emilio Sandoval Poo, who indicated to him that by order of the Intendant of the IX Region, Colonel Hernán Ramírez Ramírez (R.I.P.), he had come to learn of his situation.

Furthermore, Sandoval Poo gave him a paper and a pencil to write down all the names of his relatives and acquaintances, giving him ten minutes to do so. He left during that period and returned later to ask for the paper. As Riquelme did not write down any names, Emilio Sandoval Poo became annoyed, tore up the paper and the pencil, insulted him, and left the place.

H.- That, finally, days later Sergio Riquelme was released and transported by Sergeant Orlando Garrido to his home, where he was almost unrecognized by his wife due to the physical state he was in,” the ruling maintains.

Source: elclarin.cl, December 23, 2016

Supreme Court convicts retired military and civilians for homicides and unlawful coercion at Temuco air base

The Second Chamber of the highest court confirmed the sentence that convicted Crisóstomo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Soto Herrera, Luis Yáñez Silva, Luis Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera to 20 years in prison as authors of the crimes.

The Supreme Court rejected the appeals for cassation on form and substance filed against the sentence that convicted retired military personnel and civilian staff who worked at the time of the events at the Maquehue Air Base in Temuco for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and the unlawful coercion applied to Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza.

These crimes were committed between September and October 1973 at the FACh facility.

In a unanimous ruling (case roll 14.483-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jean Pierre Matus, minister María Cristina Gajardo, and lawyers (i) Eduardo Morales and Ricardo Abuauad—confirmed the sentence that convicted Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and Leonardo Reyes Herrera to 20 years in prison as authors of the crimes.

Meanwhile, Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía was sentenced to 17 years in prison as the author of the two aggravated homicides, and Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud to 12 years in prison as the author of the aggravated homicide of Henríquez Aravena.

In the case of Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, he was imposed a sentence of 4 years in prison as an accomplice to simple homicide and an accessory to unlawful coercion.

Finally, Jaime Mauricio Echenique Seco, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, and Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez were sentenced to 3 years and one day in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, for their responsibility as accessories to the crimes.

In the case, the highest court, acting ex officio, substituted the sentences of 3 years and one day in prison imposed on Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella with intensive supervised release for the same period, as accessories to the crimes.

The decision to substitute the custodial sentences with intensive supervised release was agreed upon with the dissenting vote of Minister Matus.

“That the appeal for cassation on substance proposed by the defense of the convicted Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud is based, firstly, on the grounds contained in No. 7 of Article 546 of the penal procedural compendium, referring as infringed Articles 451 to 488 of the same legal body; the norms on ordinary procedure of greater amount, by application of Articles 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure and 43 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in particular regarding Articles 1698, 1712, and 1713 of the Civil Code; 486 and 488 of the procedural code regarding presumptions; and also denouncing an infringement of Articles 15, No. 1 and 14, No. 1 of the Penal Code, 498 to 509 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and 391, No. 1 of the Penal Code, alleging, fundamentally, that the evidence was evaluated against the law, committing an abuse by confusing the circumstances that the law allows to be proven through witnesses, which in the appellant's view cannot serve to prove participation, or through the abusive configuration of presumptions that would not be based on real and proven facts, nor would they be multiple, serious, precise, and concordant,” the ruling states.

The resolution adds: “As a second ground, the appeal invokes Article 546, No. 2 of the procedural code, as an incorrect qualification was given to the crime and, consequently, a penalty was applied in accordance with said erroneous qualification, thereby violating Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Law 20.357, also violating Article 18 of the Penal Code, 19, No. 3 of the Fundamental Charter, in relation to Articles 391, No. 1 and Articles 93 and 94, all of the Penal Code, since, in his view, a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population had not been proven, nor would there be any evidence that the accused had conspired to carry out the imputed homicide, whose qualification as an imprescriptible crime against humanity would imply a retroactive application of Law 20.357 and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in violation of Article 18 of the punitive code.”

“As a third ground, the appeal is based on that contained in Article 546, No. 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, estimating that the sentencer erred by not considering the special mitigating factor of partial prescription, imposing on the fact a penalty higher than that provided for by law, thereby depriving him of the possibility of obtaining any substitute penalty, which, in his judgment, would also constitute the ground provided for in Article 546, No. 1 of the procedural code, due to violation of Articles 62, 65 to 69, 93, 94, 103, and 391, No. 1 of the Penal Code and Law 18.216 modified by Law 20.603,” it adds.

“Regarding the civil aspects of the sentence—it continues—it invokes as a ground for substantial cassation that contained in Article 546, final paragraph of the Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to the infringement of Article 41 of the same legal body and 2322 of the Civil Code, in relation to the norms of Articles 1437, 2492, 2497, 2514; and 19 and 22 first paragraph, all of the same legal body, by declaring the civil actions brought against him imprescriptible; and also that contained in Article 546, final paragraph of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that is, the false application of International Human Rights Law norms, which, in his view, do not provide for the imprescriptibility of patrimonial actions, in contravention also of Articles 2332 and 2497 of the Civil Code.”

“That this substantial appeal cannot prosper either, as it is built on mutually incompatible premises, since it requests that this Court invalidate the appealed sentence and issue a replacement one that acquits him both criminally and civilly because his participation in the imputed act is not proven and because his responsibility in that same act is prescribed; and that it declare that he has no responsibility and should be acquitted, but that he is favored by a special mitigating factor that is only applicable to those who are responsible,” the ruling affirms.

For the country's highest court: “Stated in this way, the appeal becomes ambiguous, which conspires against its nature as a strict law, the purpose of which is none other than to fix the correct scope, meaning, and application of the laws, in terms that it cannot be admitted that mutually incompatible, subsidiary, or alternative grounds are poured into it, which leave it devoid of the necessary certainty in relation to the vices that support the allegations contained therein.

It is because of the way in which the appeal and its different chapters have been presented that it is not possible to enter into the substance of the matter.”

Likewise, the ruling records: “That, for the same reasons expressed in the previous consideration, the substantial cassation appeal proposed by the defenses of Crisóstomo Ferrada, Enrique Rebolledo, Heriberto Pereira, Jorge Valdebenito, Jorge Soto, Luis Yáñez, Luis Soto, and Leonardo Reyes must also be rejected, since it is based on the grounds of Article 546, No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, asking this Court to annul the appealed ruling because—without discussing the commission of the punishable act—there would be no evidence regarding the participation of the accused in the punishable act; or because their participation would be as accessories and not as authors; or because the punishable act in which they would have participated would not constitute a crime against humanity, would be repealed, would have a lesser penalty; or would be prescribed; or because, in any case, if they had participated in the punishable act, it would be appropriate to apply the special mitigating circumstance of gradual prescription and that, in any case, they be acquitted of civil liability, allegations whose manifest incompatibility makes it impossible for this Court to fix the applicable law without falling into the same contradictions that the attempted appeal incurs or, to avoid them, arbitrarily choosing one of them, thereby substituting the work of the appellant, which is forbidden for a court in general and for a court of cassation in particular.”

“The subsidiary nature with which some of these grounds are interposed does not prevent the above, since such a form of presentation is not permitted in this class of appeals as it is expressly admitted by the second paragraph of Article 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in the case of the nullity appeal regulated therein,” it highlights.

“That identical defects of interposition—it continues—suffer the appeals for cassation on substance deduced in favor of the convicted Jaime Echenique, Enrique Isaacs, Antonio Montserrat, and Rodolfo Schmied, which must also be rejected, since in them are invoked simultaneously as grounds those contained in Article 546, No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 of the procedural code, requesting their acquittal for not having participated in the prosecuted facts or because they would not constitute crimes against humanity, to conclude by recognizing that participation and that the ruling be annulled for not having been granted a substitute penalty, which is not possible not only because such a decision is not part of the final appealed sentence but, furthermore, because of the discretionary nature that its granting has for the trial court.”

Helicopter crew members

In the first-instance sentence, the minister on extraordinary visit for human rights violation cases of the Temuco Court of Appeals, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, established the following facts:

"A.- That immediately after the military pronouncement on September 11, 1973, the commander of the No. 3 Helicopter Group of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (deceased), delegated the operational command of the base to the second-in-command, Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), in order to assume functions in the CAJSI (Jurisdictional Action Command for Internal Situation), whose office was located in the No. 8 ‘Tucapel’ Infantry Regiment of the city of Temuco.

However, he never formally left the command of the aforementioned unit, going there daily to determine the actions to follow.

B.- That starting from that same day, the new local authority called to active service several reserve officers of the Air Force, who were civilian pilots, among whom are Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, and Emilio Sandoval Poo; and other retired officers who joined the Maquehue Base contingent and who, according to their rank, began to perform the same operational functions as the rest of the line officers and non-commissioned officers at least during the most critical period of September and October 1973.

These functions included integrating patrols destined to carry out curfew control, guarding public service facilities and bridges, participating in operations of different magnitudes whose purpose was to raid homes and carry out detentions of people contrary to the new regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, integrating helicopter crews with the purpose of transferring detainees from one point to another in the region, piloting private light aircraft with the object of monitoring the coastal zone, and performing rounds or guard officer shifts inside the air base.

These last shifts could have been between 12 to 24 hours. It should be noted that a large part of the Air Force reserve officers were also appointed as comptrollers in different state companies, so they had to reconcile both activities during the period indicated above, without ceasing to fulfill these tasks, since each branch of the armed and order forces present in the city designated a comptroller per company, so the activities in the intervened companies were always well covered.

C.- That given the need to systematize and coordinate the activities destined for the detention of people and their transfer to the Maquehue air base for their subsequent interrogation, the second-in-command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased) organized a specially selected group to deal with intelligence and political detainee issues, a group that was under his command and that included lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), several personnel of the permanent staff of different ranks among whom are, among others, Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and a civilian employee who had the specialty of nursing named Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. This group, from that date, gradually stopped performing the functions proper to their specialty to devote themselves to the tasks assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base.

D.- That this special group received the alternating and sporadic collaboration of line and reserve officers who, motu proprio or by an express order received, joined on some occasions the patrols destined to raid homes and detain people or witnessed and collaborated in the interrogations of the detainees who remained inside the base, among whom are Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Monserrat Mena, Rodolfo Ernesto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Fernando Pérez Chávez, Rogelio Aníbal Olivares Torruella, and Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco. The people detained in the various operations were kept in the guard facilities, in the infirmary, in two offices located in the Administrative or Command building, in an old wooden tower that was previously used to store unused material, and which after September 11 was enabled for the indicated purposes, and also on some occasions they were transferred to a hangar located inside the base.

E.- That many of these detainees remained confined at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the officers and non-commissioned officers indicated above who were part of the intelligence group specially formed for such purposes, among whom are the second-in-command Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), non-commissioned officers Luis Arturo Soto Pinto, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo; and the civilian employee Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. The latter, in certain cases, supplied drugs to the detainees, such as pentothal, so that they would confess their alleged crimes. Also during that time, the detainees were taken out to the unit's courtyard during the day so they could rest a little or were transferred to the bathrooms existing in the unit, an opportunity in which they were seen and attended to by conscript soldiers who could verify the deteriorated physical state in which these people were. Some of these conscripts had to perform sentry duties to guard the place where the detainees were.

F.- That the aerial operations carried out in helicopters on some occasions consisted of transferring Army troops to localities in the IX Region whose mission was to detain people contrary to the military regime.

These people were transferred to the Maquehue air base and also to the No. 8 ‘Tucapel’ Infantry Regiment of this city, with the aircraft that transported them landing in both units, as the case may be.

In the same way, transfers of detainees were carried out by land from the Maquehue air base to the Tucapel regiment, which were carried out by members of the special group described above and also on some occasions by reserve officers who received an order to that effect.

G.- That on the same day, September 11, 1973, the lawyer Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who was also a reserve lieutenant of the Chilean Army, was called to collaborate with the new regime, and he appeared at the ‘Tucapel’ Regiment to support the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit and that was in charge of the second-in-command, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased).

This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as second-in-command of the Tucapel Regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who were called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through communiqués published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different parts of the region by Carabineros and military patrols.

H.- That given the high number of detainees and people called to give statements, the Military Prosecutor's Office was reinforced to carry out its work with officials of the Judiciary who were requested from the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Temuco by the aforementioned lawyer, who, acting as ad-hoc prosecutor, made a presentation to the plenary of the appellate court, after which some clerks from different courts and a rapporteur of the Court were assigned in commission of service.

I.- That due to the lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters added to the weak character he had and the work as second-in-command of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased) was delegating functions as military prosecutor to the legal advisor of the Prosecutor's Office, Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud, who began to hold the position of de facto prosecutor, to the point that he carried out jail visits and that lawyers, relatives, and even ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him about the fate of the detainees.

However, Major Jofré Soto (deceased) continued to sign the administrative paperwork most of the time and participated in some interrogations of detainees.

J.- That the people called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office and those who were brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guard post and in the large gymnasium.

Once interrogated by personnel of the Military Prosecutor's Office, by detectives of the Investigative Police attached to the regiment, or by the officers themselves who participated in these activities, some of them were released, others were sent to their homes under house arrest, and others were taken to the public jail where they remained while their procedural situation was resolved.

K.- That also for September 1973 in the No. 8 ‘Tucapel’ Infantry Regiment of Temuco, there existed the Second Information and Intelligence Section that was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, work that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigative Police and Carabineros, who provided information of a political nature to the aforementioned officer about all those people subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. In the same way, some officers, non-commissioned officers, and conscripts of the regiment joined the intelligence tasks.

L.- That as the days went by, the Military Prosecutor's Office and the Second Intelligence Section began to work together to interrogate the detainees who remained confined in the jail or in some facility of the Tucapel Regiment.

To articulate this work, two locations were enabled in the military unit, one located between the Headquarters and Mortar companies and another in an old disused gymnasium that was located on the side of the conscript soldiers' ‘mess hall’.

In this way, the detainees were taken to and from the jail to the regiment by military personnel of the Second Section, being interrogated in the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically coerced in one of the facilities indicated above to ‘soften them up’ before or after these interrogations.

M.- That in both interrogation and torture rooms there were implements to tie up the detainees and apply electricity to different parts of the body, in addition to applying other types of torment such as kicks and punches.

Conscript soldiers and a Carabinero who collaborated with Captain Nelson Ubilla Toledo and with the detectives of the Investigative Police who were there participated in this task. Most of the officers of the ‘Tucapel’ Regiment and some non-commissioned soldiers from the Headquarters and Services, Mortar, Hunter companies, and the Second Section also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times.”

Source: pjud.cl, March 6, 2024