Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje, a councilman from Puerto Cisnes, was detained in September 1973 and his body was found a month later in a mass grave at the Puerto Aysén municipal cemetery.

The visiting minister of the Coyhaique Court of Appeals, Luis Sepúlveda Coronado, indicted retired Army officer Aquiles Vergara Muñoz as responsible for the qualified homicide of Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje, which occurred in September 1973 in Puerto Aysén.

The judicial investigation determined that Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje "was detained, outside of any legal process, without an order from a competent authority, and taken to a Carabineros facility that was under the command of military and Carabineros officers."

The resolution adds that "after being deprived of liberty for almost a month, his body appeared buried in a mass grave at the Puerto Aysén municipal cemetery; his death was caused by thoracic trauma from ballistic projectiles, a violent death caused by a third party, with the superior commanders of the facility where he was detained and last seen being absolutely identified in the case."

Elvin Altamirano was 34 years old at the time of his death. He was a farmer, a councilman for Puerto Cisnes, and a socialist militant.

According to the official version of the time, Altamirano had been killed on the road between Puerto Aysén and Coyhaique while being transported, when he attempted to escape by taking advantage of a breakdown in the vehicle transporting him, the Rettig Report notes.

The Commission adds in the document that "it is not plausible that the affected party attempted to escape" and "in the event that such an escape attempt had occurred, police forces have sufficient capacity to prevent such situations without the need to kill the detainees under their custody."

Source: lanacion.cl, October 3, 2014

One of the Murderers of Puerto Cisnes Socialist Councilman Elvin Altamirano Monje Prosecuted

The visiting minister of the Coyhaique Court of Appeals, Luis Sepúlveda Coronado, indicted retired Army officer Aquiles Vergara Muñoz as responsible for the qualified homicide of Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje, 34 years old, a farmer—a crime against humanity perpetrated in September 1973 in Puerto Aysén.

According to the investigation of the facts: "It has been absolutely proven that Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje was detained, outside of any legal process, without an order from a competent authority, and taken to a Carabineros facility that was under the command of military and Carabineros officers; subsequently, and after being deprived of liberty for almost a month, his body appeared buried in a mass grave at the Puerto Aysén municipal cemetery; his death was caused by thoracic trauma from ballistic projectiles, a violent death caused by a third party, with the superior commanders of the facility where he was detained and last seen being absolutely identified in the case," the resolution states.

Minister Sepúlveda established that after September 11, 1973, Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje "was called to present himself before the new authorities."

"On September 22, 1973, he was apprehended in Puyuhuapi by Carabineros from Puerto Cisnes and, along with other detainees, transported by boat to Puerto Chacabuco, and then to the Puerto Aysén police station, which was under the command of Army Captain Aquiles Vergara and Carabineros Lieutenant Miguel Rojas."

"There, he was the victim of cruel torture that included beatings, walking barefoot, denial of food, and being thrown in a drum from the side of a hill."

"On October 12, he was taken from a cell in the police station and executed in the stable area, although the official version is that the 'law of flight' had been applied to him."

"Afterward, his corpse was taken to the Puerto Aysén cemetery and buried clandestinely." Upon learning of this, his family recovered him and buried him in the Puyuhuapi cemetery.

Magistrate Luis Sepúlveda Coronado issued an arrest warrant for the accused to the Human Rights Investigative Brigade and also ordered the seizure of assets for one million pesos, to cover the expenses that the investigation might cause the State.

Source: VillaGrimaldi.cl, October 4, 2014

Supreme Court Issues Sentences for Kidnappings and Executions in Aysén

The Supreme Court issued a final judgment in a series of human rights violation cases committed in the Aysén Region in October 1973, which were investigated by the visiting minister of the Coyhaique Court of Appeals, Luis Sepúlveda Coronado.

In the ruling, the ministers of the Penal Chamber, Milton Juica, Hugo Dolmestch, Carlos Künsemüller, Haroldo Brito, and Lamberto Cisternas, rejected the cassation appeals filed for the episodes known as: Puerto Cisnes, Puerto Aysén, and Villa Los Torreones; and accepted the cassation appeals for the Coyhaique episode.

In the ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court confirms the appealed sentences for the homicide of Jorge Vilugrón Reyes, perpetrated on October 8, 1973, in Puerto Cisnes; the homicide of Julio Cárcamo Rodríguez, which occurred on October 2, 1973, at the Second Carabineros Station of Puerto Aysén; and for the homicide of Moisés Ayanao Montoya, executed on October 25, 1973, in the Villa Los Torreones sector (the route connecting Puerto Aysén with Coyhaique).

Meanwhile, the appeal was accepted and a replacement sentence was issued for the qualified kidnappings of Juan Vera Oyarzún, José Rosendo Pérez Ríos, and Néstor Hernán Castillo Sepúlveda, which occurred starting on October 27, 1973, in Coyhaique.

Puerto Cisnes Episode

In this case, the sentences of 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, issued against José Tocol Navarro and Luis Pineda Muñoz as perpetrators of the crime of homicide, were maintained; as were the sentences of 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission, against Carlos Henríquez Reuquén, Héctor Andrade Calderón, and Ramón Concha Pérez, in the capacity of accomplices.

In this process, it was established that "in the first days of October 1973, commissions were formed in Puerto Aysén and Puerto Cisnes to carry out detention functions, composed of Army and Carabineros personnel, and that on one occasion they used a boat to go to a sector called La Junta, where they gathered the residents in the local gymnasium and detained four people without an order from a competent court, among whom was Jorge Orlando Vilugrón Reyes.

Afterward, they put them on a boat, at which time Vilugrón fractured a leg, remaining confined on the launch. Subsequently, a mock War Council was held, in which he was sentenced to death, tied to a post where a hood was placed on his head and a red disk on his chest, being executed by a firing squad on October 8, 1973, at 07:10.

Once the execution was concluded, Vilugrón's death was verified and the crew of the ship took the body out in a coffin with weights and threw it into the sea."

Puerto Aysén Episode

In the episode called Puerto Aysén, the Penal Chamber confirmed the sentences of 3 years and one day of imprisonment against Aquiles Vergara Muñoz as the perpetrator of the crime of homicide, with the benefit of supervised release; and 541 days of imprisonment against Miguel Rojas Quiroga as an accessory to the crime, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

In this case, it was proven that "in the first days of October 1973, Army Captain Aquiles Vergara Muñoz was designated with an Artillery battalion squad under his command to the city of Puerto Aysén to contribute to internal order in the face of possible insubordination and curfew violations, tasks that were autonomous.

It adds that on October 2, 1973, the Carabineros official Óscar Carrasco Leiva was going to his house around 8:00 PM, when he was intercepted by 'cachorro Alvarado' and 'alicate,' who insulted and threatened him, which he commented to his boss, who ordered that they be detained, being apprehended by force, receiving blows with rifle butts and kicks to the body and, finally, transferred to the Second Police Station, where they were placed in cells.

During the night or early morning hours, they were taken from their cell, transferred to the stables, a place where Captain Vergara Muñoz shot them with his pistol and then formed an irregular firing squad composed of Carabineros who executed them with their service weapons, resulting in their deaths without a prior trial and without the victims having the possibility of defending themselves or repelling the aggression.

Afterward, the bodies were taken to the morgue, where the doctor verified the death through an external examination without performing an autopsy and issued the medical death certificate, leaving the immediate cause as acute anemia and the underlying cause as a projectile wound, dated October 20, 1973, upon the request of the Carabineros Commissioner of Puerto Aysén, with the naked bodies being taken to the Puerto Aysén cemetery and thrown into a previously prepared mass grave."

Villa Los Torreones

In this episode, the ruling that sentenced José Maricahuin Carrasco to 5 years of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime of homicide, with the benefit of supervised release, was confirmed; as was the sentence of 541 days of imprisonment for Juan González Andaur and Nelson Ojeda Soto, with the benefit of supervised release.

In this case, it was determined that "on October 25, 1973, a patrol was formed for the detention of Segundo Montoya, who lived in the Villa Los Torreones sector, composed of members of the Army who were moving in a Unimog truck with the purpose of arresting him and transferring him to the Regimiento N° 14 Aysén in Coyhaique.

Given that he was not found at the residence of the wanted person, the people present were interrogated, among whom was his nephew Moisés Ayanao Montoya, 19 years old at the time, who was beaten and then shot while attempting to flee or while running by order of the captors, resulting in his death at the same location from the impacts.

Afterward, his corpse was placed on a tarp on a horse and transferred to the Regimiento N° 14 Aysén in Coyhaique, and subsequently taken clandestinely to the El Claro neighborhood cemetery in Coyhaique, where a grave was dug and his body was buried without notifying the family."

Coyhaique Case In the Coyhaique episode, the Penal Chamber accepted the cassation appeal and issued a replacement sentence, sentencing Miguel Ángel Rondón to 10 years and one day of imprisonment, without benefits, for his responsibility as the perpetrator of three qualified kidnappings; and sentencing Gustavo Rivera Toro to 3 years and one day of imprisonment for his responsibility as an accessory, granting him the benefit of supervised release.

In this case, it was established that "due to the military pronouncement, four people, namely, Juan Vera Oyarzún, Néstor Castillo Sepúlveda, José Miguel Chacón Coliague, and Efraín Ruiz, decided to leave the city and seek political asylum in Argentina, because they were leaders of political parties opposed to the military regime, for which they crossed through an unauthorized border crossing and requested political asylum, being transferred to the Alto Río Mayo Gendarmerie Barracks on September 23, 1973, where José Rosendo Pérez Ríos and José Gómez were also located.

They remained in that place until October 27, 1973, the date on which Vera, Castillo, and Pérez were taken from the police facility at night and handed over to a patrol of soldiers and a Carabineros official, all Chilean.

They arrived at the Regimiento N° 14 Aysén, where they were locked on the second floor of the Intelligence Department, without any news of their subsequent whereabouts or their death. The deprivation of liberty of Juan Vera Oyarzún, Néstor Castillo Sepúlveda, and José Rosendo Pérez Ríos was proven, originating from the illegal detention of which they were victims by a military patrol and a Carabineros official, taken to the regiment where they were seen alive for the last time, with their respective whereabouts remaining unknown and the bodies having not been located."

Source: El Divisadero.cl, September 8, 2014

Aysén Human Rights Group Laments Low Sentences and Silence Pact Among Military

After the Supreme Court issued a final judgment in some of the human rights violation cases in Aysén that occurred during the Military Dictatorship, the Coyhaique Human Rights Group lamented the lack of proportionality between the nature of the crimes for which they are convicted and the sanctions imposed in the rulings corresponding to the "Villa Los Torreones," "Puerto Aysén," and "Puerto Cisnes" episodes.

According to what was reported by Ninón Neira, president of the Human Rights Group, although the effort to reach the truth is valued, it is regrettable that the sentences do not adjust to the dimensions of what happened.

At the same time, she denounced that the pact of silence still exists among military and civilians, which has not allowed for the finding of the bodies of the forcibly disappeared in Aysén, for which they made a public call to General (r) Gustavo Rivera Toro and Sub-officer Miguel Ángel Rondón to provide the information that would allow the relatives of the detainees to end this ordeal.

The Supreme Court decided to confirm the rulings of the "Villa Los Torreones," "Puerto Aysén," and "Puerto Cisnes" episodes, thus establishing sentences of 5 years of imprisonment for José Maricahuin Carrasco as the perpetrator of the crime of homicide, with the benefit of supervised release; and 541 days of imprisonment for Juan González Andaur and Nelson Ojeda Soto, with the benefit of supervised release, in the "Villa Los Torreones" case.

In the episode called "Puerto Aysén," the Penal Chamber confirmed the sentences of 3 years and one day of imprisonment against Aquiles Vergara Muñoz, father of the well-known TV host Ivette Vergara, as the perpetrator of the crime of homicide, with the benefit of supervised release; and 541 days of imprisonment against Miguel Rojas Quiroga as an accessory to the crime, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

In the "Puerto Cisnes" episode, finally, the sentences of 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, issued against José Tocol Navarro and Luis Pineda Muñoz as perpetrators of the crime of homicide, were maintained; and 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission, against Carlos Henríquez Reuquén, Héctor Andrade Calderón, and Ramón Concha Pérez, in the capacity of accomplices.

Regarding the "Coyhaique" episode, the Supreme Court accepted the cassation appeals filed by the Human Rights Program of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security and by the Judicial Prosecutor of the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals, proceeding to annul the sentence issued by the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals on October 25, 2013, and issuing a replacement sentence in which it resolved to sentence Miguel Ángel Rondón to 10 years and one day of imprisonment, without benefits, for his responsibility as the perpetrator of three qualified kidnappings; and to sentence Gustavo Rivera Toro to 3 years and one day of imprisonment for his responsibility as an accessory, granting him the benefit of supervised release.

Source: ElPatagonDomingo.cl, September 11, 2014

Roll 15.687-1: Case of Qualified Kidnapping, Illegitimate Coercion, and Qualified Homicide of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas

TWENTY-SECOND: That, regarding the inquiries provided by the conscript soldiers José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza, and also the one provided by Corporal Ricardo Albarrán Espinoza, who claim to have participated in the investigated events in the manner they have related, by virtue of superior orders, that is, in obedience to their hierarchical commanders, it should be noted in this regard that the sentencer, in strict compliance with Article 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, investigated with equal zeal not only the facts and circumstances that establish and aggravate the responsibility of all those prosecuted in the case, but also those that exempt them from it or extinguish or attenuate it, starting precisely from what they maintained regarding their participation being in compliance with orders from their superiors. In this regard, the foregoing must be related to the provisions of Article 482 of the aforementioned legal body, which indicates that when the accused confesses or admits their participation in the act but attributes to it circumstances that could exempt them from responsibility or attenuate it, the investigations and proceedings carried out in this sense did not demonstrate or prove that such circumstances were true and effective.

That, on the contrary, the investigation showed that Army Captain Aquiles Vergara, outside of any instruction from his hierarchical superiors, proceeded to give a verbal order to Corporal Ricardo Albarrán to prepare weapons and ammunition in order to proceed to detain two people who had allegedly insulted some Carabineros; in turn, Corporal Albarrán verbally ordered two conscript soldiers, José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza, who were serving in the telecommunications unit that was under the charge of said corporal, to accompany them to the homes, with the purpose of detaining those people, which they carried out outside of any legal or administrative provision, since they ultimately arrived at their homes where the people were sleeping, made them get up, and then proceeded to detain them and transport them in military vehicles to the facilities of the Second Carabineros Station of Puerto Aysén, with the captors being armed with war weaponry at all times. Subsequently, the detainees were interrogated, flogged, and executed inside that Carabineros facility, and their corpses were transported by Corporal Albarrán himself, who was driving an Army vehicle, together with the two aforementioned conscript soldiers, to the morgue, and afterward, the same military contingent proceeded to transport the naked corpses to the Puerto Aysén municipal cemetery, whose doors were closed because they arrived in the middle of the night and in total darkness, with that Army personnel opting to tear down the doors of the cemetery to then guide the vehicle inside it and afterward they got out and took the bodies of the executed and threw them into a mass grave, one on top of the other, and in the opposite direction. The events narrated above, without a doubt, far exceed any eventual due obedience or compliance with superior orders, since such conduct is outside the aims and purposes of the Armed Forces and Order. For all these reasons, given the way in which the events plausibly occurred and the background information that the process yielded, all of which was duly investigated in the case, it necessarily leads to the conclusion that none of said prosecuted individuals acted in the events imputed to them by virtue of superior orders issued by hierarchical commanders, in the terms prescribed by Article 214 of the Code of Military Justice, for which reason the allegations that have been made in this sense by the prosecuted individuals as well as their respective defenses will not be heeded and, on the contrary, will be rejected.

Source: Judiciary, November 3, 2015

Sentence Issued Against Five Former Uniformed Personnel in Human Rights Case Known as the Aysén Case

One of those implicated in the illicit act (case file 15687-1) is the then-Army Captain Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz, who must serve a sentence of 10 years and one day of effective imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime.

In the context of investigations into the abuses that occurred during the dictatorship, the minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights cases of the Coyhaique Court of Appeals, Luis Sepúlveda Coronado, convicted five former members of the Army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of Sergio Alvarado Vargas, an event that took place on October 2, 1973.

One of those implicated in the illicit act (case file 15687-1) is the then-Army Captain Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz, who must serve a sentence of 10 years and one day of effective imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime.

Vergara Muñoz is the father of the journalist and television host Ivette Vergara. Last year, the former military officer had been sentenced to three years and one day for another case related to the so-called Aysén case.

On that occasion, the communicator maintained that "one must let justice do its work as it should, and when the time comes to speak, it will be spoken about, but we are calm. We know that my father is innocent, therefore, we are very calm." Along with Vergara Muñoz, Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga, a Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, was sentenced to 5 years and one day of effective imprisonment as an accomplice.

On the other hand, a sentence was handed down against retired Army Corporal Ricardo Albarrán Espinoza as a co-perpetrator; he received a 5-year prison sentence, with the benefit of serving the sentence under the modality of supervised release for adults.

In the case of the conscript soldiers José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza, they were convicted as co-perpetrators of the crime of qualified homicide of Alvarado Vargas, each to suffer 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

According to the ruling, Minister Sepúlveda managed to prove that "in the first week of October 1973, Carabineros officials arrived to tell Captain Vergara that they had had an incident with some people in Puerto Aysén, who had allegedly insulted them," and that under those circumstances, Captain Vergara "ordered military personnel under his command to go to the house of the people who had insulted the Carabineros, find them, and proceed with their arrests."

Furthermore, the indictment details that "after the above, Captain Vergara called all the conscript soldiers who had gone to carry out those arrests, and in their presence, he began to speak to the two detainees.

He told one of them to turn around because he was showing him his back, and when he was facing him, he took out a revolver that was in his holster held by a belt and, with the weapon in his hands, shot him repeatedly in the stomach, causing the detainee to fall to the ground.

Subsequently, the same Captain ordered the other detainee to also turn around because he was showing him his back, and when he was facing him, he did the same, shooting him repeatedly in the stomach until he fell to the ground, with both detainees dying at that location."

Source: theclinic.cl, November 4, 2015

Court confirms ruling that convicted members of the Army and Carabineros for homicide in Puerto Aysén in 1973

The Coyhaique Court of Appeals confirmed the sentence that convicted five retired members of the Army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crime of homicide of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas. The illicit act was perpetrated inside the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén on October 2, 1973.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 22-2016), the First Chamber of the appellate court—composed of ministers Jorge Pizarro, Jimena Muñoz, and the ad hoc lawyer Jaime Ulloa—confirmed the challenged sentence, issued by the minister on assignment Luis Sepúlveda Coronado.

In the confirmed ruling, Minister Sepúlveda Coronado sentenced the then-Army Captain Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz (father of journalist Ivette Vergara) to a sentence of 10 years and one day of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime.

Meanwhile, the Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga, must serve a sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment as an accomplice.

In the case, retired Army Corporal Ricardo Albarrán Espinoza was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, as a perpetrator of the illicit act; and former conscript soldiers José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza were sentenced to 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as perpetrators of the homicide.

"That the facts for which the convicted were accused are described in the eleventh section of the sentence, in which the trial judge qualifies them legally as constituting the crime of qualified homicide committed against the person of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas, perpetrated during the night of October 2, 1973, inside the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén.

Homicide committed with treachery, since the State agents acted against the victim while in a position of safety, and the victim at no time had the possibility of repelling the aggression, which reveals the intent to kill, but also the attempt to avoid any risk to achieve the purpose of homicidal intent, with the victim having no opportunity to evade that criminal design or to resist the attack against him," the appellate court's ruling maintains.

The resolution adds that it must be considered that Alvarado Vargas was also previously "detained outside the law, then interrogated and beaten by his captors, and surrounded by military and Carabineros personnel who were armed inside a police unit.

A punishable act that the trial judge classifies under Article 391 No. 1 of the Penal Code, which serves as the basis for applying the relevant penalties for said crime."

Therefore, it concludes

"I.- THE appeal in form filed on page 2,712 and following by lawyer Sergio Contreras Paredes on behalf of Aquiles Vergara Muñoz IS REJECTED, so the challenged sentence is valid.

II.- The appealed sentence dated November 3, 2015, written on page 2,648 and following, IS CONFIRMED."

A resolution that also approved the partial definitive dismissal decreed regarding the deceased defendant José Roberto González Mejías.

Source: elclarin.cl, March 26, 2018

Puerto Montt Court confirms ruling that convicted (retired) members of the Army and Carabineros for homicide in a Puerto Aysén precinct in 1973

In a unanimous ruling, the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals, legally substituting for the Coyhaique Court of Appeals, confirmed the sentence that convicted five retired members of the Army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crime of homicide of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas, an illicit act perpetrated inside the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén on October 2, 1973.

In the confirmed ruling, Minister Sepúlveda Coronado sentenced the then-Army Captain Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz to a sentence of 10 years and one day of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime. Meanwhile, the Carabineros lieutenant at the time of the events, Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga, must serve a sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment as an accomplice.

In the case, retired Army Corporal Ricardo Albarrán Espinoza was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, as a perpetrator of the illicit act; and former conscript soldiers José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza were sentenced to 541 days of imprisonment, with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence, as perpetrators of the homicide.

The sentence maintains that the facts for which the convicted were accused are described in the eleventh section of the sentence, in which the trial judge qualifies them legally as constituting the crime of qualified homicide committed against the person of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas, perpetrated during the night of October 2, 1973, inside the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén.

Homicide committed with treachery, since the State agents acted against the victim while in a position of safety, and the victim at no time had the possibility of repelling the aggression, which reveals the intent to kill, but also the attempt to avoid any risk to achieve the purpose of homicidal intent, with the victim having no opportunity to evade that criminal design or to resist the attack against him.

The resolution adds that it must be considered that Alvarado Vargas was also previously detained outside the law, then interrogated and beaten by his captors, and surrounded by military and Carabineros personnel who were armed inside a police unit.

A punishable act that the trial judge classifies under Article 391 No. 1 of the Penal Code, which serves as the basis for applying the relevant penalties for said crime.

Source: diarioconstitucional.cl, March 26, 2018

The family drama of Ivette Vergara: her father was convicted of homicide

The homicide was perpetrated inside the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén on October 2, 1973.

Ivette Vergara has spent years facing a family drama that added a new chapter this week. Her father, Aquiles Vergara Muñoz, a retired Army Captain, was sentenced by the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals to 10 years and one day of imprisonment for being the perpetrator of the homicide of the worker and boxer Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas.

The event took place in October 1973, at the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén.

Regarding the exposure of the case, his high-profile daughter has always believed in his innocence. In fact, in a letter sent some time ago to a written media outlet, she defends her progenitor and points out that the uniformed officer has been a victim of irregularities throughout the investigation of the case, and that in all these years the family has suffered and been devastated.

The other convicted individuals are the former Carabineros lieutenant, Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga, who was sentenced to 5 years and one day of imprisonment as an accomplice. Added to this are retired Army Corporal Ricardo Albarrán Espinoza, sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment with the benefit of supervised release; and former conscript soldiers José Delmiro González Mansilla and Elizandro González Meza, who were sentenced to 541 days of imprisonment with the benefit of conditional remission of the sentence.

Source: redaraucania.com, March 28, 2018

Minister Álvaro Mesa prosecutes (retired) military and Carabineros for kidnapping and illegal detention of a councilman in 1973.

In the resolution, the minister on assignment issued an indictment against former Army officer Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz as the perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury.

The minister on extraordinary assignment for human rights violation cases for the jurisdictions of Temuco, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Coyhaique, Álvaro Mesa Latorre, initiated proceedings against retired members of the Army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the crimes of illegal detention and kidnapping with serious injury of the former councilman of Puerto Cisnes, Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje.

These illicit acts were perpetrated between September and October 1973, in Puyuhuapi and Puerto Aysén, respectively.

In the resolution, the minister on assignment issued an indictment against former Army officer Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz as the perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping with serious injury. Meanwhile, former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga was prosecuted as the perpetrator of both crimes, and retired Carabinero Luis Segundo Oyarzo Villegas as the perpetrator of the crime of illegal detention.

In the process, Minister Mesa Latorre managed to establish the following facts:

That consequently, from the investigation of the facts, it has been proven that Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje was illegally detained by the Carabineros of Chile of Puerto Cisnes in the town of Puyuhuapi, outside of any judicial process, without any order from a competent authority.

Only a verbal order from Miguel Ángel Rojas Quiroga, a Carabineros lieutenant at the time. Elvin Altamirano Monje was taken to Puerto Cisnes, where he was embarked along with other detainees on a ship belonging to the national maritime company.

He arrived in Puerto Chacabuco, where he was loaded along with the other detainees onto a military truck (which demonstrates once again the relationship and solid commitment in the Puerto Aysén precinct between the Carabineros and the Army of Chile) bound for Puerto Aysén to another Carabineros of Chile facility, which corresponded to the Second Carabineros Precinct of Puerto Aysén.

This was under the command of the military and Carabineros officers detailed above. Subsequently, and after several days of being illegally deprived of his liberty, his death was reported by radio due to the application of the "Ley de Fuga" (Escape Law).

The authority did not hand over the body to his relatives. His body appeared buried in a common grave at the Municipal Cemetery of Puerto Aysén on December 22, 1973, with his cause of death being thoracic trauma from ballistic projectiles, a violent death caused by third parties, on October 12, 1973, at 8:24 PM in the city of Puerto Aysén, according to the death certificate attached to page 1 vta.

Likewise, in the course of the investigation, the exhumation of the body of Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje, who was buried in the Puyuhuapi cemetery, was decreed, with his transfer to the Legal Medical Service of Santiago being ordered.

The service subsequently reported that the skeletal remains examined correspond 99.99% to those of Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje, according to ORD.: 15655 dated August 13, 2010, of the Legal Medical Service of the Government of Chile, which corresponds to the Anthropological Report, Forensic Odontological Report, Associated Evidence Report, Forensic Genetics Expert Report, and Integrated Expert Report, pertaining to Protocol No. 40/90 U.E., from page 841 to page 897 (Volume II).

In the case of the defendant Rojas Quiroga, his entry into preventive detention at the Second Carabineros Precinct of Temuco was ordered. Meanwhile, the defendant Vergara Muñoz was placed under full house arrest due to his advanced age; and Oyarzo Villegas was subjected to nighttime house arrest for the same reason.

Source: pjud.cl, December 20, 2019

Supreme Court sentences father of Ivette Vergara to effective prison time for crimes against humanity committed during the Pinochet dictatorship

Although the commission confirmed the execution of the crime and Vergara's guilt, his sentence was reduced to 5 years and one day.

In a vote by the highest court, by 4 to 1, and expected to be made public in the coming days, composed of ministers Carlos Künsemüller L., Lamberto Cisternas R., Manuel Antonio Valderrama R., and the ad hoc lawyers Diego Munita L. and Antonio Barra R., Aquiles Vergara, a retired Army captain and father of television host Ivette Vergara, was sentenced to 5 years and one day for three homicides that occurred in Coyhaique in 1973.

Vergara was accused of the qualified homicide of the Puerto Cisnes councilman Elvin Altamirano Monje, who, on September 11, 1973, "was called to present himself before the new authorities," according to the investigation.

The resolution points out that "it has been absolutely proven that Elvin Alfonso Altamirano Monje was detained, outside of any legal process, without any order from a competent authority, taken to a Carabineros facility that was under the command of military and Carabineros officers, subsequently, and after being deprived of his liberty for almost a month, his body appeared buried in a common grave at the municipal cemetery of Puerto Aysén, his death being thoracic trauma from ballistic projectiles, a violent death caused by third parties, with the superior commands of the facility where he was detained and last seen being absolutely identified in the case."

It should be remembered that in 2014, the Supreme Court had already confirmed another three-year prison sentence for Aquiles Vergara in the framework of the so-called Puerto Aysén Case, for the irregular detention and death of Luis Cárcamo and Sergio Alvarado.

The facts As established in the ruling—to which Emol had access—at the time of the events, Vergara had been recently assigned—with a squad from the Artillery battalion under his command—to the city of Puerto Aysén "to contribute to internal order in the face of possible insubordination and violations of the curfew."

According to the resolution, on October 2, 1973, the former uniformed officer ordered the detention of Cárcamo and a friend of his nicknamed "Cachorro Alvarado" after Carabineros official Oscar Carrasco Leiva was insulted and threatened by them.

Thus, the ruling details, both were "apprehended by force, being struck with rifle butts and kicked in the body, and finally transported to the Second Precinct where they were placed in cells."

"During the night or early morning hours, they were taken out of their cell, transported to the stables, a place where Captain Vergara Muñoz shot them with his pistol and then formed an irregular platoon composed of Carabineros who executed them with their service weapons, resulting in their deaths without a prior trial and without the victims having the possibility of defending themselves or repelling the aggression," the document establishes, which subsequently specifies that "the bodies were transported to the morgue where the doctor confirmed the death through an external examination without performing an autopsy."

"The medical death certificate was issued, leaving the immediate cause as 'acute anemia' and the underlying cause as 'projectile wound,' dated October 20, 1973, upon the request of the Carabineros Commissioner of Puerto Aysén, with the naked bodies being taken to the city cemetery and thrown into a previously prepared common grave," the sentence mentions.

Denied knowing the facts

During the process against him, Aquiles Vergara declared before the magistrate that during his stay in Puerto Aysén, his duties were to provide protection to the prefecture's facilities and provide support in the event that the police were attacked during their procedures, asserting that he did not have the legal authority to order any detention.

Likewise, he denied having ordered the formation of a platoon of Carabineros officials to act in the execution of people and asserted that he did not know the people who were executed by name or physically.

Finally, he rejected that he had organized the detentions of the men and their executions, stressing that he did not get involved with the people detained in the cells, that he did not participate in any interrogation, and that he also did not know where the victims could have been buried since he did not even know about the event.

Source: eluniversal.cl, January 31, 2020

Father of Ivette Vergara sentenced to 5 years in prison for homicide perpetrated during the dictatorship

The Supreme Court sentenced two retired officers of the Army and Carabineros for their responsibility in the qualified homicide of a man in 1973, in the commune of Puerto Aysén.

In a split decision, the Second Chamber of the highest court sentenced former Army officer Aquiles Vergara Muñoz, the journalist's father, to a sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the homicide of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas.

Likewise, it sentenced former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Quiroga Rojas to 3 years in prison, with the benefit of supervised release, as an accomplice.

The first-instance sentence was issued in 2018. However, after the defense's appeal, the Supreme Court reviewed the case and confirmed the conviction, although it reduced the sentence from 10 to 5 years of effective imprisonment.

The resolution explains that "it is declared that the principles and foundations that determine the imprescriptibility of the persecutory action for crimes against humanity are not applicable to partial prescription."

In 2018, when the conviction became known, Ivette Vergara came to her father's defense through a letter to the editor published by El Mercurio, where she accused the judge in charge of the case, Luis Sepúlveda, of being negligent.

"It has been devastating for my father and for our entire family to see how a State official in charge of such an essential job as administering justice has been negligent, biased, and has ignored my father's arguments for his defense," Vergara wrote at that time.

Source: theclinic.cl, February 3, 2020

Supreme Court convicts Army and Carabineros officer for the 1973 murder of a worker in Aysén.

The Supreme Court convicted retired Army officer Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz and Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Quiroga Rojas for their responsibility in the crime of qualified homicide of Sergio Osvaldo Alvarado Vargas in October 1973 in the commune of Aysén to the low sentence of five and three years in freedom, respectively, for the crime against humanity.

The PJUD records that in a split decision (case file 8.065-2018), the Second Chamber of the highest court—composed of ministers Carlos Künsemüller, Lamberto Cisternas, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, and ad hoc lawyers Diego Munita and Antonio Barra—convicted former Army officer Aquiles Alberto Segundo Vergara Muñoz to a sentence of 5 years and one day of imprisonment as the perpetrator of the crime; and former Carabineros officer Miguel Ángel Quiroga Rojas to 3 years and one day of imprisonment, with the benefit of supervised release, as an accomplice.

The ruling states

"That, based on the sentence handed down in case file No. 2596-09, known as the 'Carlos Prats Episode,' the Penal Chamber has established that, regarding the mitigating circumstance contained in Article 103 of the Penal Code, it is appropriate to take into account that, as this Court has held repeatedly, the impossibility of applying the institution of the prescription of criminal action, which is an extenuating cause of criminal responsibility, in crimes against humanity, does not extend without further ado to partial prescription or gradual, partial, or incomplete prescription, as it is also called, the effect of which is a mere reduction in the amount of the penalty," the ruling maintains.

The resolution adds: "That, it was declared in the same ruling, reproduced by several subsequent ones, that 'the indicated penal institute constitutes—in accordance with what is established in the cited Article 103—a qualified motive for the mitigation of criminal responsibility, with particular effects, conceived, in terms of its estimation in imperative terms ("the court shall"), which affect the determination of the quantum of the sanction, which subsists and is, therefore, outside of prescription, whose foundations and consequences are diverse, although both institutions are regulated in the same title of the Penal Code'."

"The effects—it continues—that the so-called partial prescription provokes on the state ius puniendi are totally different (from those of prescription), because as it is a mitigating circumstance, it only allows for a reduction of the corresponding penalty, and although its foundation is also the passage of time, in which it resembles the extenuating cause, it cannot be legally assimilated..."

"That, as a consequence of the preceding reasoning, it is declared that the principles and foundations that determine the imprescriptibility of the persecutory action for crimes against humanity are not applicable to partial prescription, 'thereby avoiding its impunity, which in the assumption of the cited precept, is absolutely excluded, since it is a circumstance that, although special, entails in the field of the determination of the penalty the same consequences assigned to the generic mitigating circumstances established in Article 11 of the Penal Code, regulated minutely in Articles 65 and following of the same legal body'," the resolution adds.

"(...) numerous rulings have adhered to the doctrine exposed above; in this regard, it is enough to see the Repertory of the Penal Code, T.I, pp. 188 et seq.; and the Penal Code, Concordances, History of the Law, Jurisprudence, Explanatory Notes, Thematic Index, by Tatiana Vargas and Juan Ignacio Piña, Thomson Reuters, 2012, pp. 149 et seq. (...) the same cited jurisprudence has established that the rule of Article 103 of the Penal Code is 'a rule of Public Law,' and therefore, of mandatory application for judges, without any constitutional, legal, international treaty, or jus cogens obstacle being perceived for its application, since those prescriptions are only limited to the extenuating effect of criminal responsibility. In this case, the judges did not apply the mentioned Article 103 of the Penal Code, because it is a crime against humanity and said provision shares the same temporal foundations as the prescription of criminal action," the resolution affirms.

"That, dealing in this instance with a crime of homicide, of material result and instantaneous (not permanent) character, and concurring the factual-temporal elements (not disputed) required by Article 103 of the Penal Code, these judges consider that the Appellate ruling incurred an error of Law by dismissing, through the confirmation of the first-instance sentence, the concurrence of the special mitigating circumstance in question, configuring, consequently, the ground for nullity argued by the appellant, based on the indicated legal argument, and the challenged verdict must be annulled and a replacement one issued, which corrects the verified error and determines the concrete penalty that should be imposed on the accused Vergara, in accordance with the rule that was failed to be applied," it concludes. Decision adopted with the dissenting votes of Minister Valderrama and lawyer Munita.

Source: ruil.cl, February 6, 2020