Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

CHILE: Courts Active in Human Rights Cases, but Results Mixed

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, May 19 2008 (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.”