Eight police officers and the wife of one of them were prosecuted by a judge in Osorno for their responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping, homicide, and concealment committed after the military coup.

The eight individuals prosecuted, one officer and seven non-commissioned officers—all of whom are retired—remain in custody as a preventive measure at the facilities of a Carabineros barracks in Osorno.

The prosecution was ordered by Judge Raúl Ramírez, a magistrate with exclusive dedication to investigating cases of human rights violations. Ramírez has now prosecuted Lieutenant Colonel Baros Muñoz and former non-commissioned officers Mario Cabello, Sergio Jaramillo, René Bórquez, and Orozimbo Sepúlveda, charged with the aggravated kidnapping of Francisco Martínez and Reinaldo Huentequeo, who were detained on October 6, 1973.

Last Friday, he had resolved to prosecute former non-commissioned officers Raúl Zapata and Carlos Ovando as authors of the aggravated homicide of Communist militant Gilberto González de la Torre, an event that occurred in January 1974.

For the same crime, in the capacity of accessories, former non-commissioned officer Camilo Astete and Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Baros were prosecuted. These four police officers were also prosecuted for the aggravated kidnapping of brothers Eduardo and Alfredo Pacheco, as well as Juan Mancilla, Teobaldo Paillacheo, Valentín Cárdenas, and Enrique González, all Communist militants opposed to Pinochet who have been forcibly disappeared since October 1973, when they were taken to the Pilmaiquén police station.

Meanwhile, non-commissioned officer Astete and his wife, Elsa Vilugrón, were subjected to prosecution as alleged authors of the aggravated kidnapping of Marcelino Cárdenas, who was detained on December 30, 1973, and sent to the same Pilmaiquén barracks in Osorno.

Source: lanacion.cl, January 16, 2004

Human rights: Judge prosecutes eight former Carabineros in Osorno

Magistrate ordered preventive detention for one former officer, seven former non-commissioned officers, and one civilian. The head of the First Court of Osorno, Raúl Ramírez López, resolved to subject eight retired Carabineros—one officer and 7 non-commissioned officers—to prosecution for their alleged responsibility in the crimes of aggravated kidnapping, homicide, and concealment committed in 1973 and 1974.

The former police officers had been detained since Wednesday at the institution's facilities, awaiting the magistrate's decision. The judge has exclusive dedication to investigating cases of human rights violations that occurred in the provinces of Valdivia and Osorno between September 1973 and the first months of 1974.

On Friday, Ramírez resolved to prosecute former non-commissioned officers Raúl Enrique Zapata and Carlos Ovando Rodríguez as authors of the aggravated homicide of Communist militant Gilberto González de la Torre, an event that occurred in the first week of January 1974 in the Pilmaiquén sector, in Río Bueno, Valdivia province.

For the same crime, in the capacity of accessories, former non-commissioned officer Camilo Astete Cáceres and retired Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Baros Muñoz, who was then chief of the Fourth Police Station of Río Bueno, were prosecuted.

The four former uniformed officers were also prosecuted for the aggravated kidnapping of brothers Eduardo and Alfredo Pacheco Molina, Juan Mancilla Delgado, Teobaldo Paillacheo Catalán, Valentín Cárdenas Arriagada, and Enrique González Angulo.

All six were Communist militants and left-wing sympathizers, transferred on October 4, 1973, to the Pilmaiquén police outpost. Likewise, non-commissioned officer Astete and his wife, Elsa Vilugrón Mella, were subjected to prosecution as alleged authors of the aggravated kidnapping of Marcelino Cárdenas Villegas, who was detained on December 30, 1973, and transported to the same outpost.

Yesterday, meanwhile, the magistrate decided to prosecute retired Lieutenant Colonel Baros Muñoz and former non-commissioned officers Mario Cabello Yáñez, Sergio Alamiro Jaramillo Solís, René Bórquez Angulo, and Orozimbo Sepúlveda Ignao.

They are charged with the aggravated kidnapping of Francisco Martínez Noches and Reinaldo Huentequeo Almonacid, who were detained on October 6, 1973. The eight former uniformed officers remain in custody as a preventive measure at the Carabineros facilities in Osorno.

Source: emol.cl, January 16, 2005

Five Carabineros and one civilian are prosecuted for kidnappings and homicide

Magistrate Raúl Ramírez issued a resolution today with three prosecutions against four former Carabineros and one civilian for crimes linked to human rights violations at the end of 1973. The judge with special exclusive dedication determined the prosecution of retired non-commissioned officers Raúl Henríquez Zapata and Carlos Obando Rodríguez as authors of the aggravated homicide of Gilberto González de la Torre.

Meanwhile, as reported by Radio Cooperativa, retired non-commissioned officer Camilo Astete Cáceres and the former chief of the Fourth Police Station of Río Bueno, in the province of Osorno, retired Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Varas Muñoz, were prosecuted as accessories.

Likewise, Judge Ramírez prosecuted the same uniformed officers as authors for the crimes of aggravated kidnapping against brothers Eduardo and Alfredo Pacheco Molina, Juan Mancilla Delgado, Teobaldo Paillacheo Catalán, Valentín Cárdenas Arriagada, and Enrique González Angulo.

Non-commissioned officer Astete was subjected to prosecution along with his wife, Elsa Mella, as authors of the aggravated kidnapping of Marcelino Cárdenas Villegas. In addition to the five prosecuted, five other former uniformed officers are being held at police facilities in Osorno, awaiting a new resolution from the magistrate.

Source: emol.com, January 14, 2005

OSORNO CRIMES RULING (Excerpt)

SEVENTY-FOURTH: That although the accused have denied any participation in the events, stating that there were never any tortures or illegal detentions or that they were in different places than where the events occurred at the time they took place, the following evidence exists against them: In the confrontation on page 6,260, Alfonso Miguel Cárdenas Aguayo ratified his statement given to the Court, to the effect that the person with whom he is being confronted is Camilo Astete, who came to his house on December 30 or 31, 1973, along with another Carabinero and a woman, and who took his father away as a detainee; previously, they had made his sister Adelicia tie his hands with a scarf. The other Carabinero was the one who wounded Mrs. Carmen in the leg; In the confrontation on page 6,263, Eleodoro Gajardo Barriga ratified his statement given to the Court, to the effect that the person with whom he is being confronted is Camilo Astete, whom he observed at night at the end of December 1973, when he and another Carabinero were leading Marcelino Cárdenas Villegas tied up as they passed in front of his house; In the confrontation on page 6,267, Alberto Cea Barrientos ratified his statements to the effect that the person standing next to him is Camilo Astete, to whom he referred in his statement, and whom he encountered when he tried to leave the machine room; this occurred at night at around 23:00 hours; this person was the one who wanted him to open the door, was drunk, armed, and accompanied by another Carabinero; at a distance of about 70 meters from them, he managed to see a bundle that resembled a person. After Astete forced him to go inside, he heard a gunshot. And at dawn, he found two bullet casings, one under transformer No. 5, which had apparently perforated one of the radiators, and the other somewhat further away; In the confrontation on page 6,270, Yolanda Eulalia Oyarzún Fernández stated that she recognizes the person standing next to her as Sergeant Astete, who was the chief of the outpost in 1973; the Carabinero who was leading Marcelino Cárdenas tied up was Astete; In the confrontation on page 6,272, Adelicia del Carmen Cárdenas Aguayo indicated that the person standing next to her is Astete, who at that time was the chief of the El Salto de Pilmaiquén outpost, and who, along with another Carabinero and his wife, arrived shooting at her house, and after having wounded Mrs. Carmen in the leg, they took her father, Marcelino Cárdenas, away as a detainee, a date from which nothing more was ever known of him, and it was Astete who ordered her to tie her father's hands, which she did with a scarf; In the confrontation on page 6,274, Adriana Dubi Cárdenas Segovia insisted that the person standing next to her is the one she identifies as Camilo Astete and as the Chief of the El Salto de Pilmaiquén outpost in 1973, and whom she saw, along with another Carabinero and a woman, leading Marcelino Cárdenas away as a detainee at night along the path that leads from Mr. Marcelino's house toward the center of the Power Plant; In the confrontation on page 6,766, Adelicia del Carmen Cárdenas Aguayo said she more or less recognizes the person standing next to her, as when she entered the court's waiting room she remembered her as the wife of Corporal Astete (Elsa Vilugrón Mella), although she is now fatter and has lighter hair. In any case, she affirms that she is the Corporal's wife and ratifies what she has said in this process regarding the fact that on the day her father was detained by Corporal Astete and another Carabinero at her house, his wife, who is the lady standing next to her, was also there. She was next to the Carabineros and was saying that her father should surrender and that they had to take him away as a detainee for being an extremist. She also recognized this lady because she studied together with a son of hers in Pilmaiquén. That night, this lady was carrying a revolver and, according to the investigation that was carried out later, they found bullets in the jacket she was wearing; she did not fire; In the confrontation on page 6,769, Alfonso Miguel Cárdenas Aguayo ratified his statement on page 5,217 regarding the fact that on the day Corporal Astete and another Carabinero detained his father, the former's wife, the person standing next to him (Elsa Vilugrón Mella), was also there. He saw her from the side and she was carrying a revolver and a black jacket. This lady was present when they shot Mrs. Carmen. He does not remember if she was drunk or not, but the Carabineros were drunk; In the confrontation on page 6,771, Yolanda Eulalia Oyarzún Fernández indicated that the person standing next to her is the wife of Corporal Astete (Elsa Vilugrón Mella), who in 1973 lived about two houses away from hers. That on one occasion, at night, Astete and his spouse Elsa Vilugrón arrived at her house drunk; she hesitated to open the door, at which point Astete pointed his submachine gun at her; the lady was wearing a gray or light blue apron buttoned in the front, with pockets, and she was picking up the casings that her husband fired. All of that occurred more or less half an hour after having seen Astete pass by with another Carabinero leading Marcelino Cárdenas as a detainee, an occasion on which she did not see this lady pass by. That day, Astete had arrived at her house because he wanted her to hand over the two extremists, according to him, who were her children, who had come home late from the Power Plant's casino; In the confrontation on page 6,773, Adriana Dubi Cárdenas Segovia indicated that she had no doubts that the person standing next to her (Elsa Vilugrón Mella) is the lady she saw passing by along with the Carabineros when they were leading Mr. Marcelino Cárdenas away as a detainee at night. She does not remember, but it seems to her that she was wearing a skirt and apparently was also carrying a submachine gun, behind the Carabineros and the late Cárdenas, who was in the middle, tied up; In the confrontation on page 6,775, Orlando Segundo Montiel Ruiz said that on the day they killed his mother, two Carabineros and a woman entered the house where they were, and he remembers that the woman was dark-skinned, short, thin, with short, straight hair, and was carrying a submachine gun; the Carabineros had Mr. Marcelo Cárdenas against the wall and were hitting him, and the two of them took him outside; his mother wanted to defend him, they pushed her, and the fat Carabinero shot her in the leg, as the other Carabinero was carrying a revolver with which he had hit Marcelino Cárdenas on the head. He cannot be certain that the person standing next to him is the woman who entered the house; he was 9 years old and, furthermore, many years have passed since that time;

Source: unexpp.cl, March 22, 2008