These are political consultants, economists, doctors and members of the CAP who were arrested on September 11, 1973 after the coup against the Government of Popular Unity in the La Moneda Palace and taken to the Peldehue military compound, where they were shot.
As a result of these events, the second courtroom upheld the verdicts of the Santiago Court of Appeal in November 2021, and also increased sanctions and overturned the acquittals of some uniformed officers.
The court sentenced Pedro Octavio Espinoza to 20 years in prison as an accomplice in the qualified homicide of 15 of the 23 victims and added 20 years in prison for the kidnapping of the other eight.
Meanwhile, Eliseo Antonio Cornejo, Servando Maureira and Jorge Ismael Gamboa must serve 30 years in prison for the same crimes, while Teobaldo Mendoza and Bernardo Soto must serve seven years in prison.
“The final and definitive judgment was given in the La Moneda case by the highest court of the Republic. It is a verdict that closes an important chapter in national history,” said attorney Nelson Caucoto.
The lawyer representing the families of 18 of the 23 victims recalled that the barbarism committed at La Moneda Palace marked the beginning of 17 years of state terrorism in Chile.
Those murdered in Peldehue included Central Bank Director General Jaime Barrios; the Secretary General of the University of Chile, Egidio Enrique Paris; the doctor Georges Klein; and presidential advisers Claudio Grendi and Héctor Pincheira.
Among those shot were ten members of the security organization known as the Group of Friends of the President (GAP): Luis Avilés, Manuel Castro, Oscar Lagos, Julio Moreno, Luis Rodríguez, Jaime Gilson, Luis Fernando Tapia, Héctor Urrutia and Juan Vargas and Juan Jose Montiglio.
Joining the list are Investigative Police Director General Juan Paredes; the Under-Secretary-General of the Government Arsenio Poupin; the mayors of the palace Sergio Contreras and Enrique Huerta; Chief of Staff Daniel Escobar and former CAP members José Freire, Daniel Gutiérrez and Oscar Enrique Valladares.
Caucoto praised the work of the courts, which over the last 20 years have undertaken their fundamental task of overcoming impunity and solving these crimes committed by the state.
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