CHILE: HIGH COURT CONFIRMS LIFE SENTENCE FOR FORMER SECRET POLICE DIRECTOR

" ... The first victim, Jose Valenzuela, was shot by CIA agents in the municipality of Las Condes. ... "

(Aug. 30, 2007) The Supreme Court confirmed on Tuesday the life sentence given to former National Intelligence Center (CNI secret police) director Gen. Hugo Salas Wenzel for ordering the massacre known as Operation Albania. The operation took place on June 15 and 16, 1987 and resulted in the deaths of 12 left activists belonging to the Frente Patriotico Manuel Rodriguez (FPMR). The court also confirmed a substantial cash payment – US$600,000 - to the surviving family members of each of the dead men.

The operation aimed to retaliate against the leaders of the FPMR for their attempted assassination of Gen. Augusto Pinochet a year earlier.

The first victim, Jose Valenzuela, was shot by CIA agents in the municipality of Las Condes. Four other people were assassinated on June 15. The last seven were transferred by CNI agents from the army barracks where they had been detained to a house in Conchali, where they were assassinated under the pretense of having been involved in a shoot-out with the agents. Guns were later found on the bodies of the victims, which had been planted by the CNI agents.

The first significant testimony in the trial came from the former Carabineros police captain Ivan Quiroz, who said he overheard a conversation between Gen. Salas and CNI covert operations head Alvaro Corbalan. During that conversation, Salas reportedly told Corbalan to execute the seven detainees held in the barracks. This was later corroborated by Corbalan himself, who said that Gen. Salas had ordered him to “eliminate” the seven prisoners. Corbalan is currently jailed for the murder of a carpenter named Juan Alegria and his life sentence was reduced to 20 years for his cooperation in clarifying events in the Operation Albania case.

Gen. Salas has continually maintained his innocence in this affair, claiming that Corbalan’s testimony was motivated by his desire to reduce his sentence.

The prosecutor in the case, Nelson Caucoto, said that he hoped the sentence would close “one of the most painful chapters in Chile’s history.” “We have accomplished three of the most important parts of what justic is all about: the truth, a sanction, and reparations.”

SOURCE: LA NACION AND LA TERCERA
By: Ben Meyer (editor@santiagotimes.cl)

http://www.tcgnews.com/santiagotimes/index.php?nav=story&story_id=14573&topic_id=15

NEWS AMERICAS
Life term for Pinochet-era general

Chile's Supreme Court has upheld a life sentence for a retired chief of the feared Pinochet-era security services for the 1987 killings of 12 suspected urban guerrillas.

It is the harshest sentenced imposed so far by a Chilean court against officials tried for human rights abuses during the 1973-1990 Pinochet era.
Retired General Hugo Salas Wendzel is the former head of Chile's National Intelligence Centre (CNI), part of the state apparatus used to suppress opponents.

He was convicted and sentenced in 2005, along with several of his subordinates, in the killing of 12 suspected members of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front in June 1987.

Local media say Operation Albania was an act of vengeance by CNI agents after members of the guerrilla group allegedly tried to assassinate General Augusto Pinochet in September 1986.

The government initially said the suspected guerrillas had been killed in clashes with security agents, but a judicial investigation revealed they were killed in three separate incidents after being arrested.

On Tuesday, Salas Wendzel's attorney, Juan Carlos Manns, and officials at the Supreme Court confirmed the ruling, which cannot be appealed.

Salas Wendzel is free on bail.

The court also increased a sentence to 20 years in prison from 15 years against retired Major Alvaro Corvalan Castilla, who headed the operation that led to the killings.

Pinochet died of heart failure at the age of 91 in December without being brought to trial after his defence lawyers argued he was too ill to face charges.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D1DF5687-5193-4674-A77A-6E470FA26382.htm