The Second Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court ratified the sentences handed down against the captain and lieutenant of the La Granja Police Substation, located in the San Gregorio population, for the crimes of kidnapping and qualified homicide of four young people from the area. The events occurred on October 20, 1973, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The ministers Harold Brito, Manuel Antonio Valderrama, Leopoldo Llanos, Hernan Gonzalez (s) and the member lawyer Pia Tavolarirejected the appeals in form and substance filed by the defense of the ex-carabineros Hector Fernando Osses Yanez Y Achilles Bustamante Oliva.
The highest court ratified the sentence of 15 years and one day in prison in its maximum degree as authors of the crimes of qualified homicide, in consummated degree, of Sergio Candia Salinas,
According to the investigation, Sergio Candia, Carlos Chamorro, Miguel Ángel Ponce and Jaime Veas were detained on October 20, 1973, around 4:00 p.m., while eating in a restaurant in the La Granja district, by officials. police officers from the La Granja Police Substation, which was in charge of Captain Héctor Osses and Lieutenant Aquiles Bustamante.
The four detainees were executed, at night, by gunshots by officials of the aforementioned police unit and their bodies were abandoned on public roads.
Osses, a fugitive from justice
Héctor Osses, who was the captain in charge of the La Granja Police Station at the time of the events, has been a fugitive from justice since the end of 2021, despite being sentenced in other trials. The PDI is still carrying out procedures to search for him, since to date he has not been notified of the rulings, preventing him from entering the prison to serve his sentences.
According to the information collected in the cases brought by the courts, the Carabineros captain is involved in almost twenty acts constituting crimes against humanity, which ended with the death of residents of the La Granja commune. In most of these cases, Lieutenant Aquiles Bustamante, as second in command of the police unit, also participated.
Andrea Gattina lawyer from the Caucoto Lawyers Law Firm, plaintiff in the case, sees the ruling as one more confirmation of the “atrocities” committed in the San Gregorio Population.
“It is an acknowledgment of the horror suffered by the victims, objects of a cruel, criminal and excessive social raid, which has become visible through these causes; and a reparation for the relatives, often direct witnesses of the treatment suffered, who after so many years of trial can live a little calmer,” he said.
