The Santiago Court of Appeals today sentenced 10 former members of the Chilean army for burning two young men alive during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).
On July 2, 1986, soldiers who were patrolling the streets for a day of national protest against the regime, intercepted, beat, sprayed fuel, and set fire to Carmen Gloria Quintana and photographer Rodrigo Rojas.
Rojas died four days later, and Quintana survived despite suffering second- and third-degree burns to more than 60 percent of his body.
For this crime, known as the Quemados Case, the court unanimously decided to increase the sentences against soldiers Julio Castañer, Iván Figueroa, Nelson Medina and Pedro Fernández Dittus, as perpetrators, to 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Riquelme, Walter Lara, Juan Ramón González and Pedro Franco must serve 10 years in prison for being accomplices in this act, and Francisco Vásquez and René Muñoz three years for cover-up.
The condemnation of the military had wide repercussions in the media and social networks, where users described the event as historic.
During the Pinochet dictatorship, more than 40,000 cases of human rights violations were registered in the country, including 3,065 murders and disappearances.
