Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa, married, one child, a private employee, was detained around 10:00 a.m. on August 16, 1974, in front of No. 727 Avda. Bernardo O'Higgins, the address of the "Hermes" bookstore where he worked as a salesperson.

He was on the sidewalk waiting for the owner to arrive to open the shop and was talking to Juan González, a shoeshine man who set up his stand in front of the bookstore daily and whom he had known for some time.

While they were talking, they saw two individuals pass by who observed them closely. Upon reaching the corner, one of them—a tall, dark-skinned man of heavy build with wide mustaches and indigenous features—returned and asked Juan González to attend to him.

Once he was seated, the other subject arrived—short, fat, and pale-skinned—and approached Sergio directly, asking for his identity card and where he worked, to which he indicated the bookstore. Then, the subject who was questioning him gestured to the other individual, who responded with an affirmative nod.

Together, they grabbed Sergio and led him away along Avda. Bernardo O'Higgins toward the east, until they reached the corner of Calle Mac Iver, where they turned and disappeared from sight. Before leaving, they threatened Juan González, telling him that the same thing would happen to him if he spoke.

Since that moment, what happened to Sergio Vera is unknown, and he remains in the status of forcibly disappeared. His relatives went to SENDET, police units, and other agencies with the goal of finding the victim's whereabouts without obtaining positive responses.

A short time later, they were informed that Sergio was detained at the same time as an acquaintance of the family, Julio Rodríguez Jorquera, and that both remained at the "Tres Alamos" Prisoner Camp. At the end of August 1974, Julio Rodríguez was released and sought asylum in the Italian Embassy.

According to information mentioned in the proceedings, the victim had been at the DINA (National Intelligence Directorate) facility located at Calle Londres No. 38 and subsequently at the "Cuatro Alamos" Camp.

Luz Arce Sandoval, a detainee who later became a collaborator with the security service, allegedly participated in his detention, and his interrogation was reportedly in charge of Osvaldo Romo Mena, a DINA agent.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On October 11, 1974, a writ of amparo was filed on his behalf, case file 1.230, before the Santiago Court of Appeals. In response to the Court's inquiries, the Minister of the Interior replied, informing them that the victim was not being held.

Similar responses were sent by the Commander of the Combat Aviation Command and the Chief of the State of Siege Zone of the Province of Santiago. On November 11, the amparo was rejected. An appeal was filed against this ruling, and a request was made to remit the records to the competent Criminal Court to initiate proceedings for the disappearance of the subject of the amparo.

As a final measure, the Court sent an official letter to the Minister of the Interior to report whether the victim was being held by virtue of the State of Siege at the "Tres Alamos" Camp, to which the authority responded that he was not being held by order of that Ministry.

On December 5, the Supreme Court confirmed the appealed resolution, ordering the records to be sent to the corresponding Criminal Court to investigate the alleged disappearance of Sergio Vera Figueroa.

On March 10, 1975, case file 106.704 for alleged misfortune was initiated in the First Criminal Court. In response to the Tribunal's official letters, SENDET, the Minister of the Interior, and the Chief of the State of Emergency Zone of the Province of Santiago indicated that the victim was not being held.

For its part, the Director of the Legal Medical Service indicated that his name did not appear in the records from September 1973 to March 1975. The Civil Registrar of Independencia indicated that his death was not registered.

The complainant appeared and ratified what was expressed in the complaint, and the order to investigate was carried out, which did not provide further details for the case. On May 29, 1975, the Judge declared the summary proceedings closed, considering that the existence of the reported crime was not legally proven.

The Court determined to return the case to the summary stage in order to investigate and interrogate potential witnesses to the detention. Thus, the Tribunal visited the "Hermes" bookstore, where it was confirmed that it was not possible to locate witnesses there, as Sergio Vera was the only employee of the business.

The owner of the premises also appeared and stated that he only learned of the detention through the victim's relatives. After these proceedings were carried out, on August 7, 1975, the summary was closed again, and the case was temporarily dismissed.

In his report, the Prosecutor requested the approval of this resolution, noting that "It can well be presumed that the disappearance of Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa is not an alleged misfortune, but rather, the truth is that it is a true misfortune," and added, "There is nothing left to do.

Justice could not provide an answer." On September 26, 1975, the Court approved the consulted resolution. On January 9, 1979, the reopening of the summary was requested, providing new information: the sworn statement of the only witness to the detention; comments from former detainees from the same period as Sergio Vera, who informed his relatives that they had seen him at a DINA facility and at the "Cuatro Alamos" Camp, that he had been interrogated by Osvaldo Romo and denounced by Luz Arce; and the existence of a case regarding the discovery of human remains in an abandoned mine in Lonquén.

The following day, the request was approved, decreeing new measures, among others, the summoning of the witness who, according to the Investigative Service report, was not located. On April 4, the case was remitted to the Visiting Minister Mr.

Servando Jordán, appointed by the Court of Appeals to investigate the cases of disappeared persons that had been presented to the Courts. At the Minister's request, other measures were carried out that did not provide new data to the investigation, and on November 2, 1979, Minister Jordán issued a temporary dismissal, which was rejected by the Court, which considered it necessary to locate the whereabouts of the witness to Sergio Vera's apprehension.

Once the witness testified before the Minister, he again issued a temporary dismissal, which was approved by the Court on April 3, 1980, and the case was sent to the First Criminal Court for archiving.

Agent Osvaldo Romo Mena, identified by a witness as one of Sergio Vera's interrogators, was arrested in November 1992 after having remained hidden in Brazil for more than 15 years; after being expelled from said country, he was arrested upon his arrival in Chile.

By December 1992, he had to appear in several cases regarding forcibly disappeared persons, and 7 indictments had been issued against him.

Source: Corporation report

In successive resolutions, the Supreme Court rejected the appeals in cassation filed against previous sentences in the matter, both in cases of four victims who remained kidnapped in the secret barracks "Yucatán," established by the DINA at the facility on Londres 38 in the capital.

In the first of the cases, it confirmed the sentence that condemned the leader of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) and former Army officer César Raúl Manríquez Bravo to the penalty of 10 years and one day of effective imprisonment, as the perpetrator of the crimes of aggravated kidnapping of Juan Bautista Barrios Barros, Gumercindo Fabián Machuca Morales, and Eduardo Enrique Alarcón Jara, perpetrated in the city of Santiago at the end of July 1974.

The last of those named was included in the list of 119 forcibly disappeared persons of the so-called Operation Colombo, orchestrated by the DINA in July 1975. In a unanimous ruling (case file 82.388-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Haroldo Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Leopoldo Llanos, and minister María Teresa Letelier—dismissed the admissibility of the appeal due to a manifest lack of grounds and for formulating mutually incompatible requests, and rejected the appeal in cassation filed against the sentence by the aforementioned criminal Manríquez Bravo. In the case, former leaders of the repressive entity Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez were also sentenced to 10 years and one day of imprisonment as co-perpetrators of the crimes. However, Torré Sáez passed away in September 2021, so the highest court did not issue a ruling regarding the appeal in cassation that had been presented by his defense. Meanwhile, the defense for Krassnoff Martchenko did not appeal to the Supreme Court, so the ruling issued against him in the previous instance remains in force.

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Supreme Court revokes dismissal due to dementia of former Navy non-commissioned officer prosecuted in a case for kidnapping and torture in Valparaíso in 1973 In the judicial investigation, it is established that Juan Bautista Barrios Barros, a 27-year-old footwear worker and militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), was detained by DINA agents in the afternoon of July 27, 1974, inside his home located in block 74 of Villa Manuel Rodríguez, in the commune of Pudahuel.

The agents had "taken over" the house and set up a "mousetrap" to capture Barrios as he returned from work. They then transferred him to the Londres 38 barracks, where he was last seen on July 30, 1974.

Eduardo Enrique Alarcón Jara, a 28-year-old bricklayer and also a militant of the MIR, was detained in the early hours of July 30, 1974, at his home located on Pasaje Aycará in the Kennedy neighborhood, in Las Rejas Sur, Santiago, by agents who transferred him to the aforementioned Londres 38 facility.

In the same early hours of July 30, DINA agents detained the worker and Socialist Party militant Gumercindo Fabián Machuca Morales, 28, at his home, located on Pasaje Antofagasta, in the El Manzanal neighborhood of Peñaflor.

In the political history of the three detainees, it is noted that, at the time of their detention, they maintained ties to carry out propaganda tasks against the dictatorship and political training, in which they were also related to the socialist militant Ofelio de la Cruz Lazo Lazo, a 43-year-old carpenter, who was detained on the same day, July 30, and is also a forcibly disappeared person.

Like Alarcón Jara, with whom he had family ties, Lazo Lazo was included by the DINA in the Operation Colombo list.

Bookstore employee

In the second of the cases, the Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of the same former DINA leader and former Army officer César Raúl Manríquez Bravo to the penalty of 5 years and one day of imprisonment, as the perpetrator of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa, committed starting in August 1974 in the city of Santiago.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 66.004-2021), the Second Chamber of the highest court dismissed the admissibility of the appeal filed by Manríquez's defense and rejected the appeal in cassation filed by him against the sentence.

In this case, former leader Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko was also sentenced to 5 years and one day of imprisonment as a co-perpetrator of the crime. A sentence that remains in force regarding him, as his defense did not file any appeal.

The judicial investigation establishes that Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa, 28 years old, married and father of one child, was an employee of the 'Hermes' Bookstore, with no political affiliation but with ties to the MIR, where his wife was a militant.

He was detained by DINA agents in the morning of August 16, 1974, while he was in front of his workplace waiting for the opening of the store located at Avda. Bernardo O’Higgins No. 727. The captors forced him into a vehicle and drove away from the scene.

According to testimonies from surviving detainees, Vera Figueroa was seen inside the secret barracks of Londres 38 and the "Cuatro Álamos" detention facility, where his trail is lost.

Source: resumen.cl 23/1/2023 Date: 23-01-2023

Santiago Court confirms conviction of former DINA agents for kidnapping of bookstore employee.

The appellate court confirmed the sentence that condemned former agents César Manríquez Bravo and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko to 5 years and one day of imprisonment as perpetrators of the crime. The Santiago Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that condemned two agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa.

A crime perpetrated starting on August 16, 1974. The sentence maintains that, given the merit of the records and the provisions of articles 414 and following of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the final sentence of July 29, 2020, written on pages 1139 and following of the case file, issued by the Extraordinary Visiting Minister Mr.

Mario Carroza Espinoza in this case, Roll 100-2013, is approved in what was consulted and confirmed in what was appealed. In the ratified resolution, Minister Mario Carroza established that Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa, 28 years old, an employee of the 'Hermes' Bookstore, with no political affiliation, was detained by two DINA agents while he was in front of his workplace located at Avda.

Bernardo O’Higgins No. 727 on August 16, 1974, and they forced him into a vehicle. "According to testimonies from surviving detainees, Vera Figueroa was seen inside 'Londres 38' and the 'Cuatro Álamos' facility, where his trail is lost, and to date, it has not been possible to establish his whereabouts," it adds.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl 6/8/2021 Date: 06-08-2021

Human Rights Violations: Minister Carroza sentences César Manríquez and Miguel Krassnoff for the aggravated kidnapping of a bookstore employee

The sentence handed down was five years and one day of effective imprisonment. Andrés López Vergara, En Estrado. The extraordinary visiting minister for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, sentenced two former agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) to five years and one day of effective imprisonment for their responsibility as perpetrators of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa.

They are César Manríquez Bravo and Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, who were declared guilty of the crime starting from August 16, 1974. In the resolution, Minister Carroza established that: "Sergio Emilio Vera Figueroa, 28 years old, an employee of the 'Hermes' Bookstore, with no political affiliation, was detained by two DINA agents while he was in front of his workplace located at Avda.

Bernardo O’Higgins No. 727 on August 16, 1974, and they forced him into a vehicle." "According to testimonies from surviving detainees, Vera Figueroa was seen inside 'Londres 38' and the 'Cuatro Álamos' facility, where his trail is lost, and to date, it has not been possible to establish his whereabouts," it adds.

Source: enestrado.com 30/7/2020 Date: 30-07-2020