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CHRONOLOGY - 1997
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MARCH 15, 1997
The partial remains of murdered Army conscript Pedro Soto Tapia are discovered in San Felipe. Prior to his disappearance three months before, Tapia had complained of physical abuse suffered by Army recruits.
MAY 6, 1997
The right political party UDI protests the publication of El Rodriguista, a magazine representing the viewpoints of the FPMR.
MAY 8, 1997
The Paris family files a suit for the murder of Enrique Paris, personal physician of Salvador Allende who was with Allende in
La Moneda when the presidential palace was bombed by the Air Force in September 11, 1973. He was subsequently arrested and in 1994 his remains were found in the unmarked graves of the General Cemetery's Patio 29. In September, the family of Eduardo Paredes, Investigations Police Director during Allende's government, also files a lawsuit against the state for his murder following the coup. His remains were also identified in the Patio 29 findings.
MAY 15, 1997
Deputy Nelson Avila denounces use of torture to extract confessions in the case of the murdered Army conscript Pedro Soto Tapia. Army intelligence officers are presumed to be responsible for the interrogations of the four conscripts but the government denies the soldiers were submitted to torture. On May 19, the "Circle of Friends of the Army" request that a press ban be issued for the case.
MAY 19, 1997
Former president Patricio Aylwin announces he will not testify in Madrid in the case pursued by Spanish tribunals for human
rights crimes committed in Chile against Spanish citizens during Pinochet's military regime.
MAY 21, 1997
The Senate approves a proposal to return property confiscated post-1973 by the military from individuals and organizations.
MAY 22, 1997
A third police search of Colonia Dignidad fails to locate Paul Schaefer leader of the German colony known to have served
as a detention camp in the early years of the military regime. Schaefer is wanted on several counts of sexual abuse of minors, among other charges.
MAY 26, 1997
Charges are dropped against three Army recruits accused in the death of fellow conscript Pedro Soto Tapia after key testimony indicates that Soto's body was blown up with dynamite. The next day a fourth and last suspect is released for lack of evidence. Released conscript Dagoberto Contreras claims he had been beaten under military custody and forced to make a false confession to involvement in the alleged crime. On June 2, special prosecutor Manuel Silva Ibanez declares Soto Tapia may have committed suicide as was initially claimed.
JUNE 4, 1997
Pinochet publicly expresses outrage over the Soto Tapia case, stating that the Army "will not tolerate any more lies" and announces a possible suit against Congress members who have criticized the Army's role in the case.
JUNE 7, 1997
Villa Baviera residents attack members of the Association of Relatives of the Disappeared (AFDD) as the women conduct a peaceful demonstration outside the gates of the former Colonia Dignidad community. The 50 AFDD women were protesting the disappearance of
their relatives allegedly taken to Colonia Dignidad during the first months of the military regime.
JUNE 17, 1997
The Concertacion fails to pass a constitutional reform bill eliminating the designated senator positions entrenched in the regime's 1980 Constitution. This is the third time in five years such a reform is blocked by the Senate.
JUNE 18, 1997
Amnesty International (AI) issues a critical report of Chile's human rights situation. Entitled "Chronicles of Terror and
Dignity," AI's annual report verifies at least 20 cases of torture and mistreatment by police during the past year. The report also highlights the continued impunity of those responsible for human rights violations during the military regime citing the common practice in courts of sealing cases of disappearances and extra-judicial executions that took place during the period.
JULY 9, 1997
Osvaldo Romo, former agent of the military regime's DINA secret police, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for one of over 100 human rights cases he is linked to. Judge Lilian Medina sentences Romo as the individual responsible for the abduction and disappearance of
Gloria Lagos Nilson in 1974.
JULY 16, 1997
Seven members of one FPMR faction are sentenced for bombings that occurred in Antofagasta the previous year. The members of the group, who blew up a high tension tower on the anniversary of the military coup on September 11, 1996, received sentences ranging from three to 12 years.
AUGUST 8, 1997
The Supreme Court rules to expands its investigation into the former Colonia Dignidad to include 112 cases of disappeared between 1975 and 1977, when the DINA secret police may have transported the 112 persons to that compound.
AUGUST 19, 1997
Judge Manuel Silva Ibañez closes the investigation into the death of Army recruit Pedro Soto Tapia after five months of proceedings, without any suspects and no known cause of death.
AUGUST 27, 1997
The State Defense Council (CDE) appeals a Criminal Court ruling which forces the state to award US$600,000 in damages to Carmen Gloria Quintana for the 1986 burning attack by a military patrol, which left her permanently disfigured. The CDE appealed the ruling on the basis that the state is not responsible for the "quasi-crime of serious injury."
SEPTEMBER 4, 1997
A FPMR escapee is arrested in Zurich, Switzerland. Patricio Ortiz Montenegro, one of the four FPMR members who escaped from Chile's maximum security prison in December 1996, is arrested upon a petition by Chilean government authorities, but has a right to appeal his arrest in Switzerland. On September 6, Chilean civilian and military authorities formally request Ortiz' extradition.
SEPTEMBER 11, 1997
Ninety people are arrested in Santiago during demonstrations to commemorate the 1973 military coup. Hundreds of people are subject to tear-gas attacks by Carabineros police as they gather before the memorial to the disappeared in the General Cemetery.
SEPTEMBER 23, 1997
The Military Public Prosecutor requests that the Supreme Court instruct lower courts to apply the 1978 amnesty law shielding military personnel from prosecution in human rights cases. On October 10, The Supreme Court recommends that all Chile's lower courts rapidly resolve over 100 pending cases of human rights violations which allegedly took place during Pinochet's military regime. The
recommendation, however, stops short of a full-fledged order to adhere to the amnesty law.
OCTOBER 27, 1997
Spanish judges defend their jurisdiction to judge human rights violations against Spanish citizens in Chile during the military regime. The Spanish Association of Judges for Democracy rejects claims by the Chilean government that Spain lacks the jurisdiction to judge crimes committed in Chile, even though Spanish citizens were affected.
OCTOBER 28, 1997
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission reproaches the Chilean judiciary for its failure to resolve human rights cases. The government takes issue with the memorandum and the Supreme Court disregards it.
OCTOBER 29, 1997
Fourteen conscientious objectors' petitions for exemption from mandatory military service are rejected by an Army Board. It is the first time an organization is created to challenge the Chilean military's refusal to accept conscientious objector status for exemption from military service.
NOVEMBER 4, 1997
President Frei vetoes the promotion of Brigadier Jaime Lepe because of the officer's links to the 1976 assassination of Spanish diplomat Carmelo Soria. Lepe is a close collaborator of Pinochet and a former officer in the DINA secret police and had been recommended for promotion to general by the Army high command the week before.
NOVEMBER 18, 1997
Colonia Dignidad loses a legal case with Amnesty International (AI) as the Provincial Court of Bonn, Germany rejects a
lawsuit brought 20 years ago by the colony against AI. The ruling means AI can publish a pamphlet drafted in 1977 which sustains that opponents of the military regime were systematically tortured in the German compound.
NOVEMBER 19, 1997
The Supreme Court reverses an amnesty law ruling for the first time in a human rights case. A military court had previously decided to close the case investigating the 1974 arrests and disappearances of two young Socialist Party members, Rodolfo Espejo and Gregorio Lopez.
NOVEMBER 19, 1997
The death of DINA secret police chemist Eugenio Berrios is officially certified by Uruguayan legal authorities through
a writ sent to the Supreme Court.
DECEMBER 7, 1997
Americas Watch issues a favorable report regarding human rights in Chile, stating that it has progressed substantially in
the area. The report, however, includes a note of caution regarding freedom of expression in Chile.
DECEMBER 11, 1997
Almost four million potential voters do not participate in the Congressional elections by not registering, by abstaining or by annulling their vote. Out of a voting population of 9.4 million eligible to vote, only 5.7 million vote on Congressional election day.
DECEMBER 22, 1997
An FPMR member dies in shoot-out with police in Santiago. Believed to have been a key member of the FPMR, Francisco Diaz Trujillo is killed in an armed confrontation with a police patrol.
DECEMBER 23, 1997
The National Security Council and President Frei complete the selection of the six remaining designated senator positions for March 1998. The Armed Forces name former admiral Jorge Martinez Busch, former Air Force commander-in-chief Ramon Vega, ex-Carabineros police chief Fernando Cordero and former Army general Julio Canessa. President Frei names former Interior Minister Edgardo Boeninger and former university chancellor Augusto Parra. As he announces his designations, Frei states his opposition to the institution, imposed in
1980 by the military regime's Constitution.
DECEMBER 29, 1997
The government scolds Pinochet for making threats to reveal "many things" about his opponents once he is named lifetime senator. Defense Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma calls Pinochet to meet with him to convey the government's displeasure with his controversial remarks.
DECEMBER 31, 1997
The Supreme Court strikes down a Military Court decision to close the notorious "Operacion Albania" case in which 12 FPMR members were killed in June 15 and 16, 1987 in alleged armed confrontations with regime security forces. The Supreme Court rules that military court judge Emilio Thimermann erred when he applied the 1978 amnesty law and resolves to appoint a special prosecutor for the case.
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