Amnesty International Report 1997 - Chile

Unresolved cases of past human rights violations continued to be closed by military and civilian courts, but a military petition to end all investigations of past violations was rejected. A prisoner of conscience was detained briefly. There were reports of torture of detainees by members of the security forces. One death sentence was passed and subsequently commuted. In April, the Senate rejected constitutional reforms proposed by the government in 1995, which had included changes in the law governing the structure of the Armed Forces, amendments to alter the composition of the National Security Council and reductions in the terms of office of nine Senators appointed by General Augusto Pinochet. A revised proposal for legislation to curtail judicial proceedings and restrict investigations into "disappearances" which occurred under the 1973 to 1978 military government, known as the "Figueroa-Otero Bill", remained "frozen" in the Senate at the end of the year (see Amnesty International Report 1995). A bill proposing the abolition of the death penalty was brought before the Senate but was still awaiting a vote at the end of the year. Courts continued to close investigations into cases of "disappearance" and extrajudicial execution which occurred between 1973 and 1978. During the first half of the year, civilian and military courts closed 21 cases involving 56 victims; the Amnesty Law of 1978 was applied in several of these cases. In most cases, lawyers acting for the victims' families filed appeals against the courts' decision. One such case concerned Carmelo Soria Espinoza, a UN official of dual Chilean-Spanish nationality who was abducted and killed by members of the security forces in 1976. In June, a Supreme Court judge classified the crime as "homicide" and closed the case under the Amnesty Law. As a state party to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents, Chile is obliged to make crimes against people protected under the treaty punishable by penalties which take into account their grave nature. In August, the Supreme Court upheld the June verdict, pronouncing the case closed. In August, the Corporación Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación, National Corporation for Reparation and Reconciliation – the government agency created in 1992 to pursue complaints of past human rights violations (see Amnesty International Reports 1993 to 1995) – presented a report to the government confirming a further 899 cases in which human rights violations had occurred. The Corporation's mandate expired at the end of the year. In October, the Military Prosecutor General petitioned the Supreme Court to instruct all appeal courts and judges to close, under the Amnesty Law, hundreds of cases of human rights violations which occurred during the 1973 to 1978 military government. The Supreme Court rejected the petition at the end of October, thereby re-establishing the judges' authority to decide on cases within their jurisdiction. A prisoner of conscience was briefly detained in October. Gladys Marín, Secretary General of the Communist Party, was arrested and held at the women's prison in Santiago, the capital. She was charged under National Security Legislation with the "slander" (injuria) of General Augusto Pinochet, Commander-in-Chief of the Army. The charge stemmed from a speech Gladys Marín gave at the "Memorial to the Detained-Disappeared and Extrajudicially Executed" in which she reportedly described General Pinochet as a "blackmailer" and a "psychopath who came to power through deceit, treason and crime". The charge was subsequently dropped and she was released after two days. More than 20 cases of torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces were reported to the General Director of the uniformed police (carabineros) and the General Director of Investigations by national non-governmental organizations. In July, Alfredo Alegría Saavedra, Wilson Pérez Melgarejo, Rufino Pérez Abayay and a pregnant woman, Ana Ayala Medina, were arrested by members of the Investigaciones (civilian police) and taken to the First Police Station in Viña del Mar v Region. They said they were kept blindfold, handcuffed and chained to a wall, deprived of food and water for three days and denied access to toilets. They were reportedly beaten on the face and stomach, and tortured by having electric shocks applied to the temples; the men were also given electric shocks to the genitals. Ana Ayala Medina subsequently miscarried. All four were taken to hospital, but reportedly were not examined by a doctor. They were released without charge after a few days. No investigation was known to have been initiated. Also in July, Cristina Poblete Cerda was taken from her home by the Investigaciones, who reportedly slapped her on the face and pulled her by the hair. She was taken to the First Police Station in Viña del Mar where she was allegedly kept blindfold, tortured with electric shocks and subjected to sexual harassment. She was subsequently released without charge. In January, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, who visited Chile in August 1995, issued a report endorsing the recommendations made by the UN Committee against Torture in 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). The report cited a pattern of police ill-treatment of detainees and the Special Rapporteur urged the government to bring provisions for incommunicado detention into line with the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. The Special Rapporteur also recommended prohibiting the blindfolding of detainees and ensuring that all detainees had prompt access to medical examination by an independent physician. In May, Cupertino Andaur Contreras was sentenced to death by the Santiago Appeals Court. He had been found guilty of raping and killing a nine-year-old boy in December 1992. In August, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence. The death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by presidential pardon. Five political prisoners were still facing possible death sentences in trials before the military courts at the end of the year (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In March, an Amnesty International delegation visited Chile to present the authorities with a report, Chile: Transition at the crossroads – human rights violations under Pinochet rule remain the crux. The report analysed legislative proposals before the Chilean Senate aimed at curtailing investigations into past human rights violations. It called for the investigations to continue and for those responsible to be brought to justice. In August, an Amnesty International observer attended the concluding phase of the appeal hearing in the case of the "disappearance" and killing of Carmelo Soria. During the year the organization called on the Chilean Government to repeal the 1978 Amnesty Law on the grounds that it contravened international human rights standards. In July, Amnesty International appealed for Cupertino Andaur to be granted clemency and repeatedly urged that the death penalty be abolished. In October, the organization urged the President of the Supreme Court to reject the military petition to close investigations into past human rights violations. In November, Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of Justice urging the immediate and unconditional release of Gladys Marín.