The Supreme Court sentenced seven retired soldiers to up to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping and murder of singer-songwriter Victor Jara, a few days after the establishment of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, he September 11, 1973.
In a unanimous ruling, two weeks after the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew the socialist Salvador Allende, the country’s highest court sentenced seven former officers of the Chilean’s Army just between 8 and 25 years in prison, for the crime of Jara, one of the most recognized voices of popular music in Chile and Latin America.
The sentence, in response to an appeal filed by the defendants, also considers the murder and kidnapping of the former prison director Littre Quiroga, who was detained together with Jara in what was then called Chilean Stadium, in the center of Santiago, where some of the opponents were taken after the installation of the Pinochet regime.
The ruling imposed a 15-year sentence for the homicides of Jara and Littré and 10 for both kidnappings, to the former Army officers Raúl Jofré, Edwin Dimter, Nelson Haase, Ernesto Bethke, Juan Jara y Hernan Chacon, and eight years as a cover-up for Rolando Melo.
Those convicted are between 73 and 85 years old and they are all free.