1 of 1 Tribute to Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, who was burned by the military in Chile, and Carmen Gloria Quintana, who survived the attack Photo: Martin Bernetti / AFP Tribute to Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, who was burned by the military in Chile and Carmen Gloria Quintana, who survived the attack Photo: Martin Bernetti / AFP
The Chilean court sentenced on Friday evening (5) four retired soldiers to 20 years in prison in the Quemados case, which took place in 1986 during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
On July 2, 1986, a military patrol took place in Santiago during a national day of protest arrested, attacked, doused with fuel and burned two people, Carmen Gloria Quintana and Rodrigo Rojas de Negri.
- Carmen Gloria, then an 18yearold student, survived her burns.
- Rojas de Negri, a 19yearold photographer, died four days later.
The Supreme Court sentenced the following retired army officers to 20 years in prison:
- Pedro Fernández Dittus,
- Julio Castañer González,
- Iván Figueroa Canobra and
- Nelson Medina Galvez.
There were also lighter sentences for four former recruits accused of being accomplices and two other former soldiers for coverups.
The Quemados case was one of the most emblematic cases of the last years of the Pinochet dictatorship (19731990), which claimed more than 3,200 victims, including murdered and missing people.
The verdict “ends a long, very arduous process that sought to challenge an official thesis of the dictator himself that the young people burned themselves because they were carrying firebombs in their clothes,” said Carmen Glória’s lawyer, Nelson Caucoto, quoted as saying from Cooperativa Radio.