Justice served 50 years later for killers of Chile's Victor Jara
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Decades after his brutal murders, justice finally served as culprits responsible for the death of folk singer Victor Jara during Chile's oppressive regime received convictions and sentences from the Supreme Court.
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Voters line up in front a mural depicting portrait of Chilean songwriter Victor Jara, Santiago, Chile, Saturday, May 15, 2021 (AP)
The Chilean Supreme Court handed down convictions and sentences for those responsible for the heinous murder of leftist folk singer Victor Jara and others during the Pinochet dictatorship that gripped the country after a CIA-supported coup.
Victor Jara was among the first to be targeted by the Pinochet dictatorship regime. Jara was taken by the military to a Santiago stadium, which had been transformed into a detention center where he was brutally tortured to death.
His body was discovered on September 16 near the capital's cemetery, bearing the scars of 44 bullet wounds.
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The families of the victims had to endure decades of uncertainty before the wheels of justice began turning. It wasn't until 1998, a full eight years after the dictatorship ended, that investigations into the crimes were reignited. The turning point came with the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London, initiated by Spain on charges of crimes against humanity.
The recent verdict, delivered by the Supreme Court, has brought a measure of closure to the victims' families. Raúl Jofré González, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Nelson Haase Mazzei, Ernesto Bethke Wulf, Juan Jara Quintana, and Hernán Chacón Soto, all found guilty, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for aggravated homicide and 10 years for aggravated kidnapping.
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