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The Chilean dictatorship left 3,200 dead, 1,192 missing people, and over 40,000 jailed and tortured.
Santiago de Chile’s First Court of Appeals Friday sentenced 31 secret police officers to penalties of up to 20 years for their participation in the disappearance of two filmmakers on Nov. 29, 1974.
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The ruling established the responsibility of members of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) in the kidnapping of Carmen Bueno and Jorge Muller, who were militants of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).
The judges determined sentences for several DINA agents, Gen. Raul Iturriaga, Gen. Cesar Manriquez, and brigadiers Pedro Espinoza and Miguel Krassnoff, all of whom are currently in jail due to their participation in human rights violations during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990).
The filmmakers' kidnapping was part of a cover-up operation whereby, with the support of Argentina and Brazil's secret services, the DINA sought to eliminate the traces of 119 missing activists.
Bueno and Muller were arrested while walking through the streets in broad daylight and taken to a torture center known as Villa Grimaldi, which was located in Santiago city.
El 20 de febrero de 1975 fue asesinado Juan Carlos Perelman, el último de 119 compatriotas muertos por la "Operación Colombo". Esta portada del 24 julio de 1975, era parte del plan concertado por la Dictadura y la prensa cómplice para encubrir sus muertes a manos de la DINA pic.twitter.com/Uz4dxvDB3a
— claudio (@claudio_pardom) February 20, 2018
"On Feb. 20, 1975, Juan Carlos Perelman was the last of 119 compatriots killed by the Operation Colombo. This cover, published on July 24, 1975, was part of the plan agreed between the Dictatorship and the complicit press to cover up their deaths at the hands of the DINA." The cover's main note, "Exterminated like Mice," states that 59 MIR militants died during a military operation in Argentina.
Days later, the prisoners were transferred to the Cuatro Alamos, another torture center. From there, it is unknown where they were led.
The Santiago's Court of Appeals also condemned the Chilean State to pay compensation of USS60,500 to the victims' daughter.
During the Pinochet dictatorship, which left as its inheritance the Constitution that the Chileans reject, the State terrorism left 3,200 dead, 1,192 missing people, and over 40,000 persons jailed and tortured for political reasons.
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