In a unanimous ruling, the Second Chamber of the high court rejected the appeals for cassation on form and substance filed against the sentence that convicted retired military officers for their responsibility in the consummated crime of aggravated kidnapping of agronomist Luis Corvalán Castillo, son of the then-Secretary General of the Communist Party, Luis Corvalán Lepe.

The illicit act was committed starting in September 1973, in the Metropolitan Region.

In a unanimous ruling (case file 44.144-2020), the Second Chamber of the high court—composed of ministers Manuel Antonio Valderrama, María Teresa Letelier, Juan Manuel Muñoz, Eliana Quezada, and lawyer (ad hoc) Pía Tavolari—confirmed the challenged sentence, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals, which sentenced Napoleón Bravo Flores, Raúl Jofré González, Hernán Chacón Soto, Patricio Vásquez Donoso, and Francisco López Oyarzún to 5 years and one day in prison as perpetrators of a crime against humanity.

Meanwhile, Jaime Rolando Ortiz Jorquera, Luis Humberto Zamorano Soto, Ricardo Sepúlveda Díaz, and Manuel Antonio Amor Lillo must serve 3 years and one day in prison as accomplices to the illicit act.

"That such a way of founding the deduced grounds, by wielding incompatible facts, reasons, and legal consequences, is not acceptable in the case of an extraordinary appeal of strict law such as the cassation on substance, in which it is required, for this Court to be able to enter into its study and decision, that the errors of law noted in the ruling be pointed out and explained with precision and foundation, as well as their substantial influence on its dispositive part, all in correspondence with the requests made in its petition—characteristics that an appeal lacks when, as in the one reviewed, it presents alternative and exclusive foundations and requests, defects that constitute an insurmountable obstacle even for its study," the ruling states.

The resolution adds: "That the jurisprudence in this regard is numerous and sustained, counting on very recent decisions that provide solid support for what is resolved in these cases, which is the rejection of the appeals for reasons that, although formal, cannot be ignored by this chamber, given the function entrusted to it as a court of cassation."

"That, given the preceding considerations, representative of serious inaccuracies in the formalization of the appeal, contrary to the nature and purposes of this appeal for nullity, it is appropriate to dismiss the appeal for cassation," it adds.

Likewise, the ruling notes: "That, regarding the claimed vice of not having applied the gradual statute of limitations contained in Article 103 of the Penal Code, the first-instance sentence established that, in this type of crime—crimes against humanity—in accordance with the imperative principle of International Law that proscribes non-applicability of statutes of limitations, the figure of 'half-prescription' (partial statute of limitations) cannot be applied, considering it a figure separate from the statute of limitations and a diminished form of it, citing Resolution No. 2.583 of December 15, 1969, of the United Nations General Assembly, in which the issue of the sanctioning of those responsible for crimes against humanity is made explicit, as it has qualified it as an important element of prevention and protection of Human Rights, a way of contributing to peace and international security, and the only way to enforce it is with effective and proportional sanctions for the crime committed, in this case, a crime against humanity; the opposite would lead to setting penalties that, while suitable for common crimes, are not for special cases such as those at hand."

"Without prejudice to what is indicated by the ruling, the constant jurisprudence of this Criminal Chamber has used two arguments to dismiss this ground of the appeal, insofar as it is based on Article 103 of the Penal Code," the resolution warns.

"On one hand," it continues, "the classification of the illicit act as a crime against humanity forces the consideration of International Human Rights Law regulations, which exclude the application of both the total statute of limitations and the so-called 'half-prescription,' understanding such institutes as closely linked in their foundations and, consequently, contrary to the ius cogens regulations originating from that sphere of International Criminal Law, which reject impunity and the imposition of penalties not proportional to the intrinsic gravity of the crimes, based on the passage of time."

"But along with this, it is emphasized that whatever interpretation may be made of the foundation of the legal precept in question, it is certain that the norms to which Article 103 of the Penal Code refers grant a mere faculty to the judge and do not impose the obligation to reduce the amount of the penalty even if several mitigating factors concur, so the denounced vice lacks substantial influence on the dispositive part of the challenged ruling (among others, SCS Nos. 35.788-2017, of March 20, 2018; 39.732-2017, of May 14, 2018; and 36.731-2017, of September 25, 2018), so that, under such conditions, the appeal cannot prosper," it concludes.

Therefore, it is resolved that

"1.- The appeal for cassation on form filed in favor of the convicted Ricardo Sepúlveda Díaz against the sentence of March 9, 2020, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals in case file Rol No. 5774-2018, is rejected.

2.- The appeals for cassation on substance filed in favor of the convicted Hernán Carlos Chacón Soto, Manuel Antonio Amor Lillo, Napoleón Sergio Bravo Flores, Raúl Jofré González, Jaime Rolando Ortiz Jorquera, and Ricardo Winston Sepúlveda Díaz, and likewise the appeal for cassation on substance filed by the Human Rights Program Unit of the Undersecretariat of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, against the sentence of March 9, 2020, issued by the Santiago Court of Appeals in case file Rol No. 5774-2018, are rejected."

Torture at the Velodrome

In the first-instance sentence, the presiding judge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Leopoldo Llanos, considered the following facts proven:

a) On the occasion of the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, thousands of people were detained without a judicial order by the coup forces and deprived of their liberty, both in Santiago and in the provinces, in improvised places such as detention camps.

b) In Santiago, the places of mass detention were, first, the 'Estadio Chile,' located in the western sector of downtown Santiago, which came to house approximately 4,000 detainees. Second, the National Stadium, located in the commune of Ñuñoa, where around September 14, 1973, a large part of the detainees from the Estadio Chile were transferred—and to which people detained in the following days were also taken, housing approximately 10,000 people deprived of their liberty—and which remained a detention center until mid-November 1973, when some of the detainees were transferred to the Public Jail, and others to a prisoner camp in the former 'Chacabuco' nitrate plant in the Antofagasta province; while the rest were released before or during its closure.

c) The first Army officers to take charge of the National Stadium for the reception of detainees came from the Army Administrative Support Command, who—along with other officers who later arrived at the Stadium—proceeded to classify the detainees, place them in the facilities of the compound, and create a card index, registering their entry and exit, in addition to other data.

d) Units from provincial regiments were transferred to the National Stadium, whether from Antofagasta (Esmeralda Regiment), Punta Arenas (Pudeto Regiment), or other regiments from outside Santiago, who alternated in the internal custody (inside the stadium) of the detainees, remaining a few days in the aforementioned compound to then, when relieved by other units, remain a few days at the Military Stadium located in the Rondizzoni sector, adjacent to the then-Cousiño Park, today O’Higgins.

The outer perimeter of the stadium was guarded by personnel from the Carabineros de Chile.

e) Approximately on September 15 or 16, 1973, Army Colonel Jorge Espinoza Ulloa (now deceased) was designated as head of the National Stadium detention camp, who in turn depended on a Detainee Coordinating Center, directed by an Air Force general, who in turn had two commanders from the same branch as assistants who carried out their work in the Ministry of Defense building.

The aforementioned Center depended on the National Defense General Staff, whose chief was Admiral Patricio Carvajal, and the deputy chief was FACH General Nicanor Díaz Estrada.

f) At the National Defense General Staff, on September 11, 1973, a 'Joint Armed Forces Operations Center' (COFFA) began to function, which had an Intelligence Department, composed of officers and officials from different branches of the Armed Forces and Investigations, especially from their intelligence services; that is, from the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINE), and its counterparts in the Air Force (SIFACH) and the Navy (SIN).

Army non-commissioned officers who were students of an intelligence course taught in the Ministry of Defense building on Zenteno Street were assigned to the DINE.

Likewise, several sections depended on the DINE (whose superior officers were Generals Augusto Lutz and Héctor Orozco, in addition to officers Carol Urzúa, Pedro Howard, and Juan Francisco Henríquez (all now deceased, except for Orozco); among them a section or department (the IV), called the Army Intelligence Brigade (BIE) or Work Unit, located in a building on Carrera Street at Sazié, in the vicinity of the old War Academy, located at Alameda and García Reyes.

Said Work Unit was directed by two Army officers, with the rank of major or commander; and was also composed of groups of interrogators, who mobilized to the different detention centers, such as the Estadio Chile, the National Stadium, and the Tacna Regiment.

g) Colonel Jorge Espinoza Ulloa, as head of the National Stadium detention center, had an Army major as an assistant, and under his dependency were several 'departments,' among others, one for Logistics directed by Army Lieutenant Sergio Guarategua Peña (deceased); for Foreigners, commanded by Army Major Carlos Meirelles Muller (deceased) and subsequently by officers Mario Lavanderos Lataste (deceased) and Sergio Fernández Carranza; and for Operations, directed by Army Lieutenant Colonel Julio Fuenzalida Arancibia (deceased); from this, in turn, depended a Security department, made up of several Army officers. Likewise, Army non-commissioned officers who as of September 11, 1973, were students of a general assistantship course at the Telecommunications School, and who were transferred to the National Stadium approximately two days after that date, performed administrative and detainee custody functions. Finally, a field hospital operated in the Stadium compound, where doctors and personnel from the Army Health branch worked.

h) In the National Stadium, interrogation under torment or torture of detainees was frequent (without prejudice to the fact that dozens of them were also put to death); one of the most characteristic places where said procedures were practiced was the Stadium Velodrome, a facility located inside the compound but outside the main building, where detainees were taken after being called by loudspeakers to present themselves at a place known as the 'black disc,' located on the cinder track, to take them with their heads covered with blankets to the aforementioned velodrome, a place where they were made to wait in the stands until being called to some facilities called 'snails' (caracoles), where they were subjected to duress consisting of beatings and electric shocks.

i) The interrogations and torture described above were carried out by the groups of interrogators mentioned above, and also integrated (apart from Army personnel) by members of the intelligence services of the different branches of the Armed Forces, the Carabineros, and also the Investigative Police; as well as some civilians who performed that work, generally reserve officers reintegrated into the Armed Forces after the coup d'état.

Likewise, some members of the Armed Forces of foreign countries, especially from Brazil and Uruguay, participated in the torture.

j) Luis Alberto Corvalán Castillo, 27 years old, an agronomist, a militant of the Communist Party, and son of the secretary general of the same party, Luis Corvalán Lepe, was illegally detained in a mass raid carried out by the Army on September 14, 1973, in the San Borja Towers sector, where he had his residence, and transferred to the National Stadium.

k) Numerous witnesses narrate that Corvalán Castillo, from the very moment of his arrival at the Stadium, as well as subsequently, was severely tortured for the sole fact of being the son of Luis Corvalán Lepe.

The most intense torture was practiced on him in mid-October 1973 in the aforementioned Stadium Velodrome, leaving him in extremely serious physical condition, to the point that he had to be transferred from the place of torture back to the main building of the Stadium helped by four other detainees, who improvised a kind of stretcher with a blanket; he was left for a long time on the cinder track, semi-conscious, until by order of an officer he was taken to a locker room, where he was hidden so that he would not be tortured again the next day.

This fact was witnessed by several witnesses who were in the Stadium stands.

l) Upon the closure of the National Stadium as a detention center, Corvalán Castillo was transferred, along with numerous other detainees, to the prisoner camp of the former 'Chacabuco' nitrate plant in northern Chile.

m) Finally, he was released on July 30, 1974, but expelled from the country, moving first to Mexico (where he reunited with his spouse Ruth Vuskovic, who had also been detained in the National Stadium), to then settle in Bulgaria, where he was examined by doctors from that country who confirmed the sequelae of his torture; he was advised not to engage in too many activities due to his delicate state of health.

n) Luis Alberto Corvalán Castillo passed away on October 26, 1975, in Bulgaria. According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was a heart condition that led to acute vascular insufficiency, but taking into account his young age—the report states—'the great physical and psychic exhaustion, as a result of the torture and repression that he experienced in recent years, have particularly contributed to reaching these fatal conditions.'"

Source: Judiciary, April 8, 2024