MADRID 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Court of Appeals of Santiago de Chile has ruled in favor of compensating Andrés Octavio Mancilla Cárdenas with 60 million pesos (about 60,000 euros), who was detained by agents of the dissolved Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA) upon leaving his He worked in the Ministry of Public Works in March 1975 and was subjected to torture during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
In a unanimous ruling, the court has considered that Mancilla, who was taken to the Terranova barracks (Villa Grimaldi), where he was subjected to interrogations under torture and then transferred to the Cuatro Álamos, Tres Álamos and Puchuncaví detention centers, suffered a violation of their Human Rights by agents of the State of Chile.
“In this scenario (…) only the responsibility of the State of Chile in these events remained to be established,” the Chilean Judiciary has indicated in a statement in which it is estimated that this amount also responds to the “consequences psychological problems that have become more acute with the passage of time”.
The court has determined that Mancilla was kidnapped by five members of the DINA when he was leaving his job at the Ministry of Public Works, who put him in a vehicle, bandaged him and took him to Villa Grimaldi, a clandestine torture center on the outskirts from Santiago.
At the scene, the victim was interrogated and subjected to different types of torture, mainly on what was called “parrilla”, a metal bed used by the regime to electrocute detainees. He was also beaten and subjected to a mock execution. He was imprisoned for seven months until his release that same year.
Justice considers that these crimes do not prescribe despite the time elapsed given that they are part of violations of Human Rights committed during the dictatorship.