On April 18, Minister Carroza, in Case File 351-2011, sentenced Guillermo Hombitzer Fernández in the first instance to 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission, for the simple homicide of José Laurel Almonacid, which was perpetrated in May 1974 in a vacant lot in Santiago.

José was playing in the lot with a group of friends when an altercation occurred with Guillermo Fernández, in which the victim allegedly threw stones at the building where Hombitzer was located. The latter, a conscript and member of the FACH who was carrying his service weapon at the time of the encounter, fired into the air, wounding José Laurel in the head.

On April 23, the same minister issued a conviction, in Case File 268-2011, against Luis Vera Serrano. The perpetrator was sentenced to 541 days, with the benefit of conditional remission, for the homicide of Gerardo Godoy Bello perpetrated in December 1973.

Gerardo had been detained by Army personnel in the vicinity of his home during the curfew. Upon being released, he headed to his home. From his doorstep, he allegedly began to mock the Carabineros, for which reason Luis Vera fired at Gerardo’s head, causing his death.

Minister Carroza classified both crimes as simple homicide rather than aggravated, rejecting both the charge of treachery and the status of the victim’s defenselessness at the time of the events. Furthermore, he applied two mitigating factors—gradual prescription and an irreproachable prior record—and no aggravating factors, which explains the low severity of the sentences.

In both cases, the plaintiffs, the Association of Relatives of Political Executions (AFEP) and the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior, had appealed to have the crimes classified as aggravated homicide.

These cases align with a recent line of work by the AFEP that seeks to vindicate the situation of every person who is a victim of state repression, regardless of their status as a militant, a well-known figure, or the possession of a family network capable of leading the pursuit of justice in their case.

The Human Rights Program’s adherence to these cases is welcome in that it reinforces the principle that it is the State, and not private individuals, that has the primary duty to initiate the rapid and effective criminal prosecution of crimes, all the more so when the offender is the State itself.

The line of argumentation that classifies crimes of repression as simple homicide when there are no clear signs of premeditation, victimization due to political militancy, or the involvement of repressive apparatuses operating according to a systematic plan is potentially contradictory whenever one considers the classification of these same acts as crimes against humanity regarding the non-applicability of the 1978 Amnesty Decree.

It underscores the need to legislate once and for all to ‘interpret’ or repeal the decree, as has been repeatedly promised since 2006, the date on which the State of Chile was condemned by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for denial of justice in the Almonacid case.

Source: derechoshumanos.udp.cl, April 23, 2013

Retired soldier sentenced to 541 days of imprisonment for aggravated homicide in 1973

Minister Mario Carroza sentenced retired Army second soldier Luis Vera Serrano in the case of the death of Gerardo Godoy Bello, which occurred in 1973. The ruling determined that the uniformed officer was commanding a military patrol from the telecommunications regiment that arrived at the El Montijo neighborhood in Cerro Navia and detained the victim.

For this reason, the magistrate sentenced the former officer to 541 days of imprisonment with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence for two years, for his responsibility in the homicide of the 26-year-old laborer. It should be noted that, according to investigations, Bello was murdered at the door of his home, with no further details known until now.

Source: biobiochile.cl, April 24, 2013