Judge Fernando Carreño sentenced seven former officials of the Chilean Air Force (FACH) to eight years in prison for the aggravated kidnapping of two people following the 1973 military coup in the Curacautín area, east of Temuco in the foothills of the Araucanía Region.

Leonardo Reyes, Jorge Valdebenito, Luis Soto, Eriberto Pereira, Jorge Soto, Luis Yáñez, and Enrique Rebolledo were convicted for the aggravated kidnapping of teacher María Arriagada Jerez—who remains forcibly disappeared in the Cautín province—and Jorge Aillón Lara, both of whom were Communist militants.

The woman was apprehended in front of witnesses at her workplace on September 27, 1973, by members of the Air Force and Carabineros, and taken along with another teacher in an Air Force helicopter to the Lonquimay police substation.

The following day, she was taken to Curacautín and then to the Maquehue air base in Temuco. Her whereabouts remain unknown since that time. Aillón, an employee of the Agricultural Trade Company (ECA), had been detained by Lonquimay Carabineros on the day of the military coup (September 11).

Source: La Nación, June 7, 2008

Brother of Minister of Justice implicated in the murders of 4 leftist militants during the dictatorship

According to Deputy Hugo Gutiérrez, the brother of the current Minister was implicated in the case of the murder of three Communist militants and one MIR militant during the years of the dictatorship at the Maquehue air base in Temuco, IX Region.

The victims were Hernán Henríquez, Eduardo González Galeno, Alejandro Flores, and Nelson Curiñir. Eduardo González was the Director of the Cunco Hospital; he was detained on September 14, 1973, along with his wife, Natacha María Carrión Osorio, a doctor who was three months pregnant with their second child.

To this day, he remains a forcibly disappeared person. Nelson Curiñir, 22, was detained in Temuco, tortured, and murdered. According to Communist Party parliamentarian Hugo Gutiérrez: "We want to make it clear that Ángel Hernán Campos Quiroga, brother of the Minister of Justice, Jaime Campos Quiroga, was a member of Group 3 of the Maquehue air base in Temuco, with the rank of FACH Lieutenant, who was involved in the murder of three Communist Party militants and one from the MIR." According to the Communist Party parliamentarian, more than 30 victims of torture identified the Justice Minister's brother as their torturer. This information was investigated alongside lawyers Magdalena Garcés and Cristián Cruz, together with Herman Carrasco Paul, Vice President of the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights (CINPROD). The name of the Minister's brother appears in the following judicial investigation (http://www.araucaniacuenta.cl/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Auto-Acusatorio-113969.pdf), which states: “The Hernán Henríquez Aravena and 8 Others episode of September 11 was enabled for the stated purposes, and on some occasions, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base. Many of these detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the aforementioned officers and non-commissioned officers who formed part of the intelligence group specifically formed for such purposes, including Second Commander Benjamín Fernández Hernández (R.I.P.), Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (R.I.P.), Jorge Freygang Campaña (R.I.P.), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (R.I.P.), 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.”

Source: laizquierdadiario.com, December 26, 2016

Santiago Court increases sentences for aggravated kidnapping of a French citizen in Temuco

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced nine retired officials of the Air Force (FACH) for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of French-born citizen Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil.

The crime was perpetrated starting September 19, 1973, in the city of Temuco. In a unanimous ruling (case file 1040-2016), the Fifth Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Jessica González, Enrique Durán, and lawyer (i) Sebastián Hamel—increased the sentences from 5 years and one day to 10 years in prison for Emilio Sandoval Poo, Crisóstomo Fernández Carrasco, Jorge Valdebenito Isler, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Yáñez Silva, Luis Soto Pinto, Enrique Rebolledo Sotelo, Leandro Reyes Herrera, and Jorge Soto Herrera, as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of Pesle de Menil.

Meanwhile, it reduced the sentences the former FACH members must serve for illicit association from 800 days to 541 days in prison. During the investigation phase, presiding judge Mario Carroza established that Etienne Pesle de Menil was detained on September 12, 1973, by police personnel, then released by resolution of the Military Prosecutor's Office of the time and placed under the custody of the director of the company Copalca, Luis Hoffman Gómez Contreras (now deceased), a custody that lasted until September 19 of that year. "That on that day, September 19, once he arrived to perform his duties at INDAP (Agricultural Development Institute), around 11:00 AM, a group of Chilean Air Force personnel, known as the 'Savage Gang,' 'The Bad Boys,' or 'Department II,' in an authoritarian manner and without showing any judicial or administrative order, removed him from the Tuma building where the aforementioned Institute was located, put him in a pickup truck, and took him to the Maquehue Air Base, where he was held unlawfully to be interrogated under torture, as has been proven by the testimonies of eyewitnesses to the kidnapping and his subsequent confinement in that place, after which he disappeared without a trace, and no further news has been heard of him," the ruling maintains. The resolution adds: "This repressive organization of State agents, belonging to the Chilean Air Force, created with criminal objectives, are the ones who detained Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil on September 19, 1973, took him to their base of operations, the Maquehue Air Base, where, like all detainees, they kept him with his hands tied and his eyes blindfolded, and interrogated him in the Command pavilion under torture, holding him unlawfully for an indefinite period at the same Air Base, a place from which there is no further knowledge of his existence." Regarding civil damages, the court confirmed the sentence ordering the state to pay compensation for moral damages of $50,000,000 (fifty million pesos) to the victim's spouse, and $40,000,000 (forty million pesos) to each of his two children.

Source: poderjudicial.cl, January 29, 2018

Supreme Court issues sentences for aggravated kidnappings in Temuco and Santiago

The Supreme Court issued two sentences in cases of aggravated kidnapping. The crimes were committed in the cities of Temuco and Santiago, in September 1973 and August 1974, respectively. In the first ruling, and unanimously (case file 3.525-2018), the Second Chamber of the high court—composed of ministers Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, and lawyer (i) Jorge Lagos—rejected the cassation appeals filed by the defense of Emilio Sandoval Poo against the sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which sentenced him along with seven other defendants for their responsibility in the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil. The crime was committed starting September 19, 1973, in Temuco. In the sentence, the Supreme Court confirmed the resolution that sentenced the retired members of the Air Force: Emilio Sandoval Poo, Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Leonardo Reyes Herrera, and Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera to 10 years and one day in prison as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of the French citizen; plus 541 days in prison for illicit association. During the investigation phase of the case, the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Mario Carroza, established the following facts: "1.- That after the military coup occurred on September 11, 1973, the Commander of Aviation Group No. 3 of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas, currently deceased, delegated the operational command of the Base to the Second Commander, Benjamín Fernández Hernández, also deceased, so that he could assume the so-called Jurisdictional Action Command for Internal Situation; 2.- That, Commander Benjamín Fernández, once he received the operational assignment, organized a select group of permanent staff and retired reserve officers of the Air Force to perform, in general terms, intelligence work; however, the tasks they actually performed had clear illicit purposes, such as the indiscriminate raiding of homes and offices, the detention of people opposed to the military regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, without any judicial order, then interrogating them under torture and, on occasions, reaching their total elimination, hiding their remains. For this, they acted at all times aware of both the illegality of their acts and that they were violations of human rights, counting for their execution on infrastructure, material resources, organization, and a pyramidal hierarchy, with their objectives being conduct contrary to criminal law; 3.- That the French-born citizen, Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil, a militant of the Socialist Party and at that time a technician at INDAP, was detained on a first occasion on September 12, 1973, by police personnel at his home and then handed over to the Military Prosecutor's Office, which decided to release him and place him under the custody of the Director of COPALCA at that time, Luis Hoffman Gómez Contreras, now deceased, with the obligation to appear daily to sign a register, a commitment he fulfilled rigorously until September 19 of that year; 4.- That on that day, September 19, once he presented himself to perform his duties at INDAP, around 11:00 AM, a group of Chilean Air Force personnel, known as the 'Savage Gang,' 'The Bad Boys,' or 'Department II,' in an authoritarian manner and without showing any judicial or administrative order, removed him from the Tuma Building where the aforementioned Institute was installed, put him in a pickup truck, and took him to the Maquehue Air Base, where he was held unlawfully to be interrogated under torture, as has been proven by the testimonies of eyewitnesses to the kidnapping and his subsequent confinement in that place, after which he disappeared without a trace, and no further news has been heard of him; The efforts deployed by his relatives to locate him were fruitless, and the only information finally obtained was informal, when the aforementioned Second Commander of the Air Base, Benjamín Fernández, admitted to Etienne Pesle's custodian, Luis Hoffman Gómez Contreras, that he had been deprived of liberty at the Maquehue Air Base, but added that they had released him, a matter that was verified in the case files as never having happened; 5.- That this repressive organization of State agents, belonging to the Chilean Air Force, created with criminal objectives, are the ones who detained Etienne Marie Louis Pesle de Menil on September 19, 1973, took him to their base of operations, the Maquehue Air Base, where, like all detainees, they kept him with his hands tied and his eyes blindfolded, and interrogated him in the Command Pavilion under torture, holding him unlawfully for an indefinite period at the same Air Base, a place from which there is no further knowledge of his existence, and he disappeared without there being any news of his fate to date, nor any records confirming his death." Regarding civil damages, the court confirmed the sentence ordering the state to pay total compensation of $180,000,000 (one hundred eighty million pesos) for moral damages to the victim's relatives. Operation Colombo In the second case, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence that sentenced the former agent of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) César Manríquez Bravo to 13 years in prison, as the author of the crime of aggravated kidnapping of Antonio Sergio Cabezas Quijada. The crime was perpetrated starting in June 1974, within the framework of the so-called "Operation Colombo." In a unanimous ruling (case file 4.227-2016), the Second Chamber of the high court—composed of ministers Carlos Künsemüller, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Jorge Dahm, Rodrigo Biel, and lawyer (i) Leonor Etcheberry—rejected the cassation appeals filed against the sentence issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which confirmed the first-instance sentence that convicted Manríquez Bravo. During the investigation phase of the case, the extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Hernán Crisosto, established the following facts: "That on the morning of August 17, 1974, Antonio Sergio Cabezas Quijada, a militant of the Socialist Party (PS), was detained at his home located at Calle Agustinas No. 1442, Apt. 902, in Santiago, by agents belonging to the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who took him to an unknown location. That nothing more was ever known of the whereabouts of Cabezas Quijada, who remains disappeared to this date. That the name of Antonio Sergio Cabezas Quijada appeared on a list of 119 people, published in the national press after it appeared on a list published in the magazine 'LEA' in Argentina, dated July 15, 1975, which reported that Cabezas Quijada had died in Argentina, along with 59 other people belonging to leftist groups, due to internal disputes that had arisen among those members. That the publications that declared Antonio Cabezas Quijada dead had their origin in disinformation maneuvers carried out by DINA agents abroad to cover up the disappearance of people detained by their agents." Regarding civil damages, the court confirmed the sentence ordering the state to pay total compensation of $300,000,000 (three hundred million pesos) to the victim's relatives.

Source: poderjudicial.cl, November 18, 2019

Judge Álvaro Mesa sentences military and civilians for homicides and duress at Maquehue air base in Temuco

The extraordinary visiting judge for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, sentenced 20 members of the Air Force, the Army, and civilians for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera, and the application of illegitimate duress to Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Painemal Alegría, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, crimes committed starting in September 1973 at the Maquehue Air Base, Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel," and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco. Luis Quezada Chandía must serve 17 years in prison as the author of the aggravated homicides of Hernán Henríquez Aravena and Alejandro Flores Rivera; and Alfonso Podlech Michaud must serve 12 years in prison as the author of the aggravated homicide of Henríquez Aravena. In the case of Pablo Alister Contreras, the visiting judge sentenced him to 4 years in prison as an accessory to the homicides of Henríquez Aravena and Flores Rivera, and as an accomplice to the crime of illegitimate duress against Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza. Finally, Jaime Echenique Seco, Berthold Bohn Sauterel, Aníbal Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Montserrats Mena, Roberto Schmied Callejón, Víctor Manuel Volante Leonardi, Xavier Pérez Chávez, and Rogelio Olivares Torruella must serve 3 years and one day in prison as accessories to the homicides and illegitimate duress. In the investigation that Judge Mesa Latorre has been conducting since July 2010, he established the collaboration between the Maquehue Air Base, Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel," and the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco to commit various crimes against humanity, including: aggravated kidnapping, aggravated homicide, simple homicide, and illegitimate duress against opponents of the military government of the time. The sentence establishes the following facts: A.- That immediately after the military coup occurred on September 11, 1973, the Commander of Helicopter Group No. 3 of the Maquehue Air Base, Colonel Andrés Pacheco Cárdenas (deceased), delegated the operational command of the base to the Second Commander, Benjamín Fernández Hernández (deceased), in order to assume functions in the CAJSI (Jurisdictional Action Command for Internal Situation), whose office was located in Infantry Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel" in the city of Temuco. However, he never formally relinquished command of the aforementioned unit, going there daily to determine the actions to follow. B.- That starting that same day, the new local authority called several Air Force Reserve officers, who were civilian pilots, to active service, including Berthold Erwin Bohn Sauterel, Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras, and Emilio Sandoval Poo; and other retired officers who joined the contingent of the Maquehue Base 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 enforce the curfew, guarding public service facilities and bridges, participating in operations of varying magnitude whose purpose was to raid homes and carry out detentions of people opposed to the new regime or supporters of the outgoing administration, integrating helicopter crews for the purpose of moving detainees from one point of the region to another, piloting private light aircraft to monitor the coastal area, and performing shifts as duty officer or guard inside the air base. These shifts could last between 12 and 24 hours. It should be noted that a large part of the Air Force reserve officers were also appointed as intervenors in different state companies, so they had to balance both activities during the aforementioned period without ceasing to perform these tasks, since each branch of the armed forces and order present in the city designated an intervenor 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 subsequent interrogation, the Second Commander 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 included Lieutenants Ángel Campos Quiroga (deceased), Jorge Freygang Campaña (deceased), Captain Leonardo Reyes Herrera, Sergeant Orlando Garrido Riquelme (deceased), several members of the permanent staff of different ranks, including 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 a nursing specialty named Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco. This group, starting from that date, gradually stopped performing the functions proper to their specialty to focus on the tasks assigned to them by the high command of the Maquehue base. D.- That this special group received the intermittent 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, including 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, 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 stated purposes, and on some occasions, they were also moved to a hangar located inside the base. E.- That many of these detainees remained held at the Maquehue base for a period of no less than a week, during which time they were interrogated and tortured by the aforementioned officers and non-commissioned officers who formed part of the intelligence group specifically formed for such purposes, including Second Commander 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 taken 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 found. Some of these conscripts had to perform sentry duties to guard the place where the detainees were located. F.- That the aerial operations carried out in helicopters on some occasions consisted of transporting Army troops to locations in the IX region whose mission was to detain people opposed to the military regime. These people were transported to the Maquehue Air Base and also to Infantry Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel" of this city, with the aircraft that transported them landing in both units, as the case may be. Likewise, 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 an Army Reserve Lieutenant of Chile, was called to collaborate with the new regime. He presented himself at the "Tucapel" regiment to support the management of the Military Prosecutor's Office that operated inside the unit and was in charge of the Second Commander, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased). This officer, however, had to assume greater functions as Second Commander of the Tucapel regiment shortly thereafter. From that day forward, civilians began to arrive at the regiment who had been called to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office through edicts published in the written press and on the radio, or who were brought in as detainees from different points of the region by patrols of Carabineros and the military. H.- That given the high number of detainees and people called to testify, 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 on a commission of service. I.- That due to the lack of knowledge in criminal procedural matters, added to his weak character and his work as Second Commander of the regiment, Major Luis Jofré Soto (deceased) began 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 prison 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 at the Military Prosecutor's Office and those who were brought in as detainees were kept in facilities located next to the guardhouse 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 by September 1973, in the Infantry Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel" of Temuco, there existed the Second Section of Information and Intelligence, which was in charge of Captain Nelson Manuel Uldaricio Ubilla Toledo (deceased), under whose dependency some non-commissioned officers of that institution also performed functions, a task that was reinforced after September 11, 1973, with the addition of officials from the Investigative Police and Carabineros, who provided political information to the aforementioned officer about all those people subject to an investigation by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Likewise, some officers, enlisted men, 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 jointly to interrogate the detainees who remained held 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 located to 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 at the Military Prosecutor's Office and physically pressured in one of the aforementioned facilities 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 the detectives of the Investigative Police who were there participated in this task. Most of the officers of the "Tucapel" regiment and some enlisted soldiers from the Headquarters and Services, Mortar, Hunter, and Second Section companies also participated in the interrogation and/or torture sessions of detainees in those places, all of whom entered these facilities at different times. Regarding civil damages, the state was ordered to pay total compensation of $910,000,000 to the relatives of the deceased victims and to the survivors. This is the 40th sentence issued by Judge Mesa Latorre since he was appointed to investigate human rights violation cases; of these, 24 are final, with 130 people convicted.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, January 6, 2020

Supreme Court confirms sentences of 18 former uniformed personnel and 2 civilians for crimes and torture committed at Air Base in Temuco in 1973

The Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeals filed against the sentence that convicted former military and civilian personnel who served 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, both militants of the Communist Party; and the crimes of illegitimate duress applied to Jorge Silhi Zarzar, Víctor Hugo Painemal Arriagada, and Sergio Riquelme Inostroza, committed between September and October 1973, at the FACH facility.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 14.483-2021), the Second Chamber of the high 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 former Air Force officers Leonardo Reyes Herrera and Luis Alberto Soto Pinto, and former non-commissioned officers of the same institution Crisóstomo Hugo Ferrada Carrasco, Enrique Alberto Rebolledo Sotelo, Heriberto Pereira Rojas, Jorge Aliro Valdebenito Isler, Jorge Eduardo Soto Herrera, and Luis Osmán Yáñez Silva, all to the penalty of 20 years in prison for their responsibility as authors of the crimes. Meanwhile, the civilian individual Luis Raimundo Quezada Chandía must serve a sentence of 17 years in prison for his responsibility as the author of both aggravated homicides. Similarly, the civilian lawyer and former Military Prosecutor Óscar Alfonso Ernesto Podlech Michaud was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his responsibility as the author of the homicide of Hernán Henríquez Aravena. Meanwhile, former Air Force officer Pablo Aquiles Alister Contreras will serve a sentence of 4 years in prison as an accomplice to simple homicide and an accessory to the illegitimate duress. In addition, former FACH officers Jaime Mauricio del Corazón de Jesús Echenique Seco, Aníbal Arturo Tejos Echeverría, Enrique Alcides Isaacs Casacuberta, Antonio Sergio Montserrats 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. Finally, the high 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 these custodial sentences with intensive supervised release ex officio was agreed upon with the dissenting vote of Minister Matus. Maquehue Base Helicopters During the investigation phase of the case, Judge Álvaro Mesa Latorre managed to prove that immediately after the military coup at the Maquehue Air Base, an operational group of Air Force members was established, to which reserve officers of the institution were also invited. This group carried out detentions of opponents of the military regime to then take them to the facility where they remained prisoners and were subjected to illegitimate duress. In parallel, various judicial processes were carried out in the facilities of the Military Prosecutor's Office against the detainees, who were subjected to illegitimate duress and other inhuman, cruel, and degrading treatment. The victim, Hernán Henríquez Aravena, 35 years old, a surgeon and Zonal Health Director of Temuco in September 1973, was requested by the military authority of the time to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office, located inside Infantry Regiment No. 8 "Tucapel." On September 12, Henríquez appeared before the prosecutor's office, being then sent to his home. However, that same night, Carabineros from the 2nd Police Station of Temuco raided the home of Hernán Henríquez, detained him, and took him to the police unit. The following day, he was placed at the disposal of the Military Prosecutor's Office of Temuco, where his transfer to the jail of this city was ordered, and subsequently, his total house arrest was ordered, with the express order to appear first thing on September 25 before the military tribunal. However, on the night of September 24, the house of Henríquez Aravena was raided again, this time by personnel of 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 place. Later, another patrol appeared, this time from the Carabineros of the 2nd Police Station, who took Hernán Henríquez from his home, taking him away without giving any explanation. Alejandro Flores Rivera, 33 years old, a nursing assistant in the Psychiatry Department of the Regional Hospital of Temuco and President of the National Federation of Health Workers (Fenats), was requested via Edict No. 11 of September 12 to appear before the Military Prosecutor's Office. That day, Flores appeared before the prosecutor's office and was sent to his home. On October 5, 1973, the local military authority issued Edict No. 9, signed by the Commander of the Temuco Military Garrison, with which it intended to justify and cover up the murder of both detainees. The aforementioned edict stated: "Given the escape attempt planned by Alejandro Flores Rivera and in complicity with Hernán Henríquez Aravena while they were detained in the barracks of Helicopter Group No. 3, and in collusion with individuals from the outside who tried to help them, they were eliminated by the Guard." by Darío Núñez

Source: resumen.cl, March 7, 2024