CHILE:
Courts Active in Human
Rights Cases, but
Results Mixed
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) - A
concert was held in the
Chilean capital Monday
to protest a judge’s
decision to close the
case involving the
murder of folksinger
Víctor Jara, who was
killed by the
dictatorship of Augusto
Pinochet 35 years ago.
The judge handling the
case found a retired
colonel guilty, but was
unable to identify the
officer who actually
pulled the trigger.
At the present time,
"the judicial system is
very productive,
although the results of
that activity are not
always what we would
hope for," Mireya García,
head of the Association
of Relatives of the
Detained-Disappeared (AFDD),
told IPS.
"The Víctor Jara case
was a harsh blow,"
remarked García, who
said Monday’s concert
was "a call to the
justice system not to
close the cases until
all of the elements are
in, and not to fall into
inertia, which leads to
impunity."
The activist said there
are two or three cases
of human rights
violations committed
during the 1973-1990
dictatorship of General
Pinochet that have been
closed before anyone was
found guilty, but that
convictions have been
obtained in a number of
cases.
In her view, this
indicates "that things
are happening, that
efforts are being made,
that the cases have not
stalled."
On Thursday, Judge Juan
Eduardo Fuentes closed
the Jara case after
finding retired colonel
Mario Manríquez guilty
of first degree murder.
Manríquez was the
commanding officer at
the Chile Stadium when
it served as a
concentration camp after
the Sept. 11, 1973 coup.
Jara, one of Chile’s
most famous
singer-songwriters, was
one of 5,000 people held
and tortured there in
the first few days after
the coup, in which
Pinochet overthrew
socialist president
Salvador Allende
(1970-1973).
But Manríquez did not
pull the trigger of the
machine gun that killed
Jara, whose widow is
British ballet dancer
and choreographer Joan
Turner.
Jara’s family has
complained about the
judge’s decision to
close the investigation.
Former political
prisoners say the murder
was committed by a
brutal military officer
whose nickname was "El
Príncipe" (The Prince).
However, the judge was
unable to uncover the
officer’s identity.
Jara was taken to the
Chile Stadium on Sept.
12, 1973, the day after
the coup. He was
brutally tortured, and
the bones in his hands
were broken before he
was shot and killed on
Sept. 15. His body,
riddled with 44 bullets,
was dumped near a local
cemetery.
The place where he and
so many others were
tortured and killed was
renamed the Víctor Jara
Stadium in 2003.
The Jara family’s
lawyer, Nelson Caucoto,
said he would seek to
have the case reopened.
The deadline for filing
the appeal is May 30.
On Sunday, lawmakers
Antonio Leal and Ximena
Vidal of the Party for
Democracy (PPD) -- which
forms part of the
centre-left governing
coalition -- and
independent legislator
Tucapel Jiménez said the
army knows the name of
the officer known as "El
Príncipe", and called on
the military to
cooperate in the case.
Deputy Leal said that by
closing the book on the
case, "this emblematic
crime by the
dictatorship, which by
killing Víctor Jara
attempted to silence
Chilean culture, is left
in impunity."
Gloria Konig, the
director of the Víctor
Jara Foundation, told
IPS that world-famous
musical groups like Inti
Illimani, Illapu and Sol
y Lluvia were invited to
participate in Monday’s
concert in the Víctor
Jara Stadium.
In the concert, Jara’s
widow reiterated her
call to people who were
held in the stadium with
her husband, and members
of the military, to come
forward with any new
information they might
have about his death, in
order to identify his
killer.
In García’s view, the
case shows "a lack of
will to discover the
truth, to find out more,
to continue
investigating. She added
that she was afraid the
case would set "a bad
precedent."
On the other hand, she
praised the outcome of
another high-profile
human rights case, in
which two brothers,
18-year-old Rafael and
20-year-old Eduardo
Vergara, who were
members of the insurgent
Movement of the
Revolutionary Left
(MIR), were killed on
Mar. 29, 1985.
On Friday, three members
of the carabineros
militarised police were
sentenced to 10 and 15
years in prison by Judge
Carlos Fajardo.
The judge ruled that
retired corporals Jorge
Marín and Francisco
Toledo and captain Alex
Ambler Hinojosa seized
the two brothers during
a protest against the
Pinochet regime, shot
them and dumped their
bodies in Villa Francia,
the Santiago slum where
they lived.
Human rights lawyer Hugo
Gutiérrez, who
represented the Vergara
family, said he was
satisfied with the
sentences, and described
the outcome of the case
as "encouraging."
In homage to the Vergara
brothers, the "Day of
the Young Combatant" is
celebrated with violent
protests in slum
neighbourhoods every
Mar. 29.
In another human rights
case, Judge Eliana
Quezada, who is
investigating the forced
disappearance of
British-Chilean priest
Miguel Woodward, charged
six retired navy
officers with kidnapping
on Apr. 19. The
prosecution was
applauded by his family
and by human rights
organisations like
Amnesty International.
The priest was tortured
and killed in September
1973 aboard the naval
training ship
"Esmeralda", according
to witnesses.
The retired officers
were released on bail on
May 14 after paying one
million pesos (just over
2,000 dollars) each.
The next day, 13
legislators of the
far-right Independent
Democratic Union (UDI)
issued a public
statement questioning
Judge Quezada’s decision
to file charges of
kidnapping, because it
was known that Woodward
was killed, even though
his body was never
found.
The lawmakers complained
of "political
persecution" against the
six officers.
Woodward’s family and
friends said the
legislators’ public
declaration amounted to
"undue pressure" on the
judiciary.
The president of the
Supreme Court, Justice
Urbano Marín, met with
Quezada on Monday, but
denied that the purpose
of the meeting was to
express his support in
the face of the
criticism voiced by the
UDI legislators.
The local Cooperativa
radio station reported
that Marín merely stated
that "the courts are
independent, which means
they cannot be
pressured, nor do they
need support, not even
from other courts."
|
|
|
|
|
|
