Chilean court upholds convictions against DINA torturers

Wednesday, November 10th 2021 - 09:16 UTC

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The sexual nature of the crimes had not been taken into account in previous human rights sentences

Former operatives of Chile's National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) have been convicted earlier this week for crimes against humanity committed during Augusto Pinochet's military regime (1973-1990).

The defendants were sentenced to six to ten years and one day in prison by the Sixth Court of Appeals of San Miguel, a municipality in southern Santiago, for kidnapping, torture and illegitimate coercion with a sexual nature against Luz de las Nieves Ayress Moreno as of January 30, 1974, and throughout various detention centres.

Magistrates Carolina Vásquez, Diego Gonzalo Simpertigue and Francisco Ferrada have thus upheld the previous conviction handed down last May by human rights judge Marianela Cifuentes Alarcón.

The defendants were former army General César Manríquez Bravo; Carabineros Colonel Ciro Torré Sáez and Army Colonels Klaudio Erich Kosiel Hornig, Raúl Pablo Quintana Salazar and Vittorio Orviedo Tiplitzky.

Koziel, Quintana and Orvieto were the perpetrators of the kidnapping.

The upper court also increased from three to five years of imprisonment the sentence imposed on the defendants as co-perpetrators of the crime of unlawful coercion.

According to the lawyer of the Caucoto Abogados Law Firm, Francisco Ugás Tapia, the decision of the San Miguel Court of Appeals was satisfactory. In his opinion, the rectification revealed “a jurisprudential line that is being established in our judiciary, in terms of recognizing the existence of sexual harassment committed by State agents, to the detriment of the victims of the dictatorship, and sanctioning them,” an issue which had not been taken into account in previous sentences.

In addition, he added that the gender approach in the process for crimes against humanity is transcendental at the time of duly judging acts of this type.

Luz was first taken to the clandestine detention center “Londres 38”, a facility run by Army officer César Manríquez Bravo. In February 1974, she was taken to the Tejas Verdes detention centre, run by the late Manuel Contreras, where officers Klaudio Erich Kossiel, Raúl Pablo Quintana and Vittorio Orvieto served. The victim was also taken to the “Tres Álamos” compound, and finally, in March of that year she ended up at the Santiago Women's Orientation Center. Luz Ayres has lived in exile since December 1976.