Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo, married, one child, a salesman for the Editorial Millaray company and a militant of the MAPU, was detained by the DINA on September 14, 1974, around 4:00 PM on a public street.

The exact location and the specific circumstances of the apprehension remain unknown. That same day, he was taken to his home on Calle Angel Guarello with his hands tied behind his back, guarded by four civilians who identified themselves as belonging to the Military Intelligence Service.

They raided the entire property and removed various boxes containing books and the victim's belongings. Upon leaving, they stated that Sergio Lagos would be back that same day and that they were taking him for further interrogation.

That was the last time his family saw him. The civilians were traveling in two pickup trucks, one white and the other red with an olive-green canopy. Two of the agents were of heavy build, round-faced, and had mustaches; another was tall, described by witnesses as having an Italian appearance; and the last was short and thin.

When the aforementioned property was raided, a friend of the victim named Víctor was present and was also detained; no further details are known about this person.

The Rettig Report states that Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo was a militant of the Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria (MAPU) and presumably had ties to the MIR, adding that he was seen at the DINA detention centers of José Domingo Cañas and 4 Alamos.

His name appeared on a list of 119 Chileans who had allegedly died abroad, murdered by their own comrades in the struggle or in clashes with Argentine security forces. These lists were released by the magazines LEA in Argentina and O'Dia in Brazil, publications that issued only one edition, had no responsible editor, and whose addresses listed in the imprint turned out to be false.

Regarding this situation, statements by Mariana Callejas, a former DINA agent, have reached the press; she asserted that the "119" case was part of "Operation Colombo" and that her husband (Michael Townley) received about 100 identity cards corresponding to the people who later appeared on the aforementioned lists.

Despite numerous efforts made by his family, the fate of Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo at the hands of the DINA remains unknown.

JUDICIAL AND/OR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS

On September 17, 1974, Mrs. Graciela Peralta Carrasco, the victim's spouse, filed a writ of amparo (habeas corpus) with the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 1109-74, which set forth the facts surrounding the detention of Sergio Lagos Hidalgo.

The Court requested reports from the Ministers of the Interior and Defense, authorities who reported that the person in question was not being held under any administrative order. Based on these findings, on November 28, 1974, the Court rejected the writ of amparo and resolved to refer the records to the First Criminal Court of San Miguel to initiate proceedings regarding the disappearance of the victim.

On December 2 of that year, the 1st Criminal Court of San Miguel opened case 41.653, ordering the Investigative Police to conduct an investigation, which yielded no results. On April 4, 1975, without any record in the proceedings of any investigative steps having been taken, Judge Patricio Abrego Diamantti temporarily dismissed the case on the grounds that the existence of the reported crime had not been proven in the case files.

On June 25, 1975, a complaint for illegal arrest was filed before the same court, requesting that the witnesses to the victim's detention be summoned to testify. The complaint was accepted for processing under case file 42.383.

On July 2, 1975, a negative response was received from the National Executive Secretariat for Detainees (SENDET). On the 8th of that same month, the Judge consolidated this case with case 41.653, which had been temporarily dismissed, and ordered that the file be returned to the archives.

On July 31 of that year, the plaintiffs informed the Court that Sergio Lagos Hidalgo appeared in the "119" case, attaching the respective press clippings from the newspaper El Mercurio and requesting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be officially notified and that the case be reopened. Both requests were rejected by the Judge.

However, on August 8, the Court restored the case to the summary stage, ordering the Investigative Service to conduct an investigation, requesting a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and summoning the victim's relatives who were witnesses to the raid on the aforementioned property to the Court.

That same month, Mrs. Carmen Carrasco Corrales, Mrs. Graciela Peralta Carrasco, and Mrs. Carmen Inés Peralta Carrasco—the victim's mother-in-law, spouse, and sister-in-law, respectively—appeared and gave statements, confirming the circumstances of the raid and the conditions in which they saw Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo.

In the investigation carried out by the Investigative Police, the spouse was interviewed and confirmed her statements, adding that her husband was a leftist and that the captors took 3 crates of books, a camera tripod, and a typewriter from their home.

Furthermore, inquiries made to the Carabineros, the Ministry of the Interior, Military Justice, the FACH Combat Command, the Commander of the Tacna Regiment, and SENDET were unsuccessful, as the respective authorities indicated they had no record of the victim's detention.

In February 1976, David Peralta Carrasco, the victim's brother-in-law, appeared and confirmed the statements of the other witnesses. That same month, the Court took a statement from the victim's wife, who this time added that the person who was at their home and was also arrested was named Víctor, though she had no further information about him.

On October 27, 1976, the case was temporarily dismissed on the grounds that the existence of the investigated crime had not been proven in the case files. On December 30 of that year, the Santiago Court of Appeals approved this resolution.

On July 8, 1980, a criminal complaint for the crime of kidnapping was filed before the same court, adding as a new piece of information that the group of captors was commanded by an individual whom the others called "Ricardo Barrientos." The complaint was accepted for processing and consolidated with case 41.653, ordering the reopening of the case and issuing a new investigation order, which yielded no results.

Likewise, efforts made to determine whether "Ricardo Barrientos" was an official of the DINA or its successor, the CNI, yielded negative results.

On December 23, 1980, the case was again temporarily dismissed for lack of proof of the existence of the investigated crime, a resolution that was approved by the Court of Appeals.

On July 5, 1976, a new writ of amparo was filed on his behalf with the Santiago Court of Appeals, case file 700-76. During its processing, a negative report was received from the Ministry of the Interior, and the court took cognizance of the previous writ of amparo. Based on these findings, the writ was rejected on September 17, 1976.

Furthermore, Mrs. Graciela Peralta Lagos requested information in a letter addressed to the Minister of the Interior and the Chief of the State of Siege Zone, receiving responses from both authorities informing her that the investigative efforts requested from different agencies had yielded no results.

Source: Corporation report

The San Miguel Court of Appeals convicted three agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo, perpetrated starting on September 14, 1974.

In a split decision, the Sixth Chamber of the appellate court ratified the sentence that condemned Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko, César Manríquez Bravo, and Ciro Ernesto Torré Sáez to 10 years in prison as perpetrators of the crime.

The resolution establishes "the fact that occurred on September 14, 1974, regarding the detention of Sergio Hernán Lagos Hidalgo, who was taken to the clandestine detention center José Domingo Cañas and, days later, to the 'Cuatro Álamos' prisoner camp, to subsequently be taken along with other people to the 'Villa Grimaldi' barracks, with his whereabouts unknown since then."

Regarding civil matters, the ruling confirmed the challenged resolution, "with the declaration that the amounts of compensation for moral damages ordered to be paid to each victim are reduced; consequently, the Treasury must pay the plaintiff Graciela Peralta Carrasco, in her capacity as the victim's spouse, the sum of $60,000,000 (sixty million pesos), while it must pay the plaintiff Sergio Lagos Peralta $50,000,000 (fifty million pesos), in both cases with adjustments according to the variation of the CPI from the time the sentence becomes final and current interest from the time the Treasury is placed in default, at the enforcement stage."

Source: eldesconcierto.cl 03/13/2021

Date: 03-13-2021