2.
Notwithstanding the findings of initial reports and information received, which showed no
involvement on the part of institutional personnel in the events in reference, it may be concluded from
subsequent inquiries that certain Army personnel did intervene in those events.
In fact, according to that information, on July 2, while an army patrol was keeping the public peace, it
came upon a group of people attempting to disturb the peace and carrying inflammable material in
containers designed for that very purpose. Among those persons were Carmen Gloria Quintana and
Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri. Also, according to information provided by the persons referred to in the
paragraph below, when one of the containers of inflammable material was knocked over by one of the
persons detained, the clothing of those persons caught fire, and was extinguished with blankets that the
military were carrying.
As a result, the Commander of this Garrison has ordered the arrest of the three officers, five noncommissioned officers, and 17 conscripts, who allegedly participated in the events in reference, and this
afternoon, officially communicated this information to the ad hoc judge, Alberto Echavarria Lorca, and
placed the aforementioned personnel at his disposal so that he might investigate their possible
participation and degree of responsibility, if any, in accordance with the law.
8.
The request by Rodrigo Rojas’ mother, Mrs. Veronica DeNegri, and the Bar Association of Chile
that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights appoint a special commission to investigate the
circumstances surrounding the events denounced “in the face of the absence of findings from judicial
inquiries in similar cases.”
9.
The transmittal of that request to the Government of Chile and that Government’s refusal, dated
August 13, 1986, to accept the Commission’s investigation since it was “a case that is clearly sub judice,
it is being fully investigated …,” and therefore it “is clear that internal remedies have by no means been
exhausted…”
10.
The judgment of the ad hoc judge, dated July 23, 1986, in which he cites statements made by
seven military personnel making up the patrol as a basis for his ruling, and considers:
a)
that on July 2, Rodrigo Rojas De Negri and Carmen Quintana Arancibia were arrested by an army
patrol that was ensuring the flow of traffic, and held temporarily at the place where they were arrested,
side by side, and near material that could easily be ignited, which is what happened as a result of a
movement made by the girl, whereupon one of the containers fell and broke causing serious burns to the
two and the subsequent death of the former; and
b)
that no effort was made to find immediate medical attention for the injured that were not
conducive to their getting that attention.
Second. That those facts constitute the crime of manslaughter of Rodrigo Rojas De Negri and serious
injury to Carmen Quintana Arancibia, which are criminal acts that are so defined and punishable under
Art. 490 of the Penal Code.
On the basis of this reasoning, the ad hoc Judge Alberto Echavarria Lorca charged Lieutenant Pedro
Fernandez Dittus, who was leading the patrol, as the alleged author of that manslaughter and acquitted all
the other military personnel.
11.
The decision of the ad hoc judge, also dated July 23, 1986, whereby he declares himself
incompetent to continue to try the case since military personnel were involved, and transfers the records
to the Military Judge.
12.
The appeal of the ad hoc judge’s decision by representatives of family members of the victims of
which the Military Appeal Court took cognizance, and concluded in its ruling of August 12, 1986, after
evaluating 24 testimonies, that:
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