Military Personnel Convicted for Unlawful Force at Metro Station During Protests: Victim Shot in Chest After Descending Stairs

Original article: Condenan a militares por apremios ilegítimos en estación de Metro durante el estallido: Víctima bajó escaleras y recibió disparos en el tórax

The victim suffered a right hemothorax, pulmonary laceration, and hemodynamic instability due to gunfire, requiring a pleurostomy (thoracic surgery). According to the ruling, he still retains a bullet lodged in his body and is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Third Oral Criminal Court in Santiago sentenced two army non-commissioned officers for the crime of unlawful force. The incident, which left a young man with serious shotgun injuries to the chest, occurred at the Chile-España Metro station in Ñuñoa in October 2019 during the social uprising.

The convicted are corporals Pedro Pablo Cancino Cancino and Diego Ignacio Marín Sanhueza, members of a military patrol deployed during the state of constitutional emergency. The imposed sentence, decided with a dissenting vote from the court president, was 60 days in prison, replaced by conditional remission for a year.

Additionally, they were subject to the accessory penalty of suspension from any public office during the verdict period. The military personnel were acquitted of charges of attempted homicide and denial of assistance.

This ruling, from case role 218-2025, drafted by Judge Angélica Cortés Godoy and also comprising judges Carlos Escobar Salazar (president) and Ruby Sáez Landaur, provides a detailed account of the events that transpired on the night of October 22, 2019, establishing facts «beyond a reasonable doubt.»

The Incident: Victim Descended Metro Stairs and Was Shot in the Chest

According to the verdict, around 7:40 PM, P.F.A.M. was near the Chile-España Metro station, where social protests were occurring. Hearing «gunfire from the underground,» the young man decided to descend the access stairs «alone, unarmed, and without provocation, to investigate the justification for the gunfire.»

On the first underground level, a military patrol was present for security duties. The court established that upon noticing the young man descending, «without prior warning, Pedro Pablo Cancino Cancino fired a shot from approximately 8.4 meters away, hitting him with pellets in the anterior chest area.»

Struck by the first shot, the victim turned his body in an attempt to return to the surface. At that moment, «Diego Ignacio Marín Sanhueza, again without prior warning, fired a second shot from approximately 9.5 meters away, hitting him with pellets in the lateral and posterior chest areas.»

Consequences of the Gunshots

As a result of both gunshots, P.F.A.M. suffered a right hemothorax, pulmonary laceration, and hemodynamic compromise. He was urgently transported to Hospital del Salvador, where he underwent a pleurostomy (thoracic surgery) and remained hospitalized until October 28, 2019, six days after the attack. The ruling states that the victim still retains a bullet lodged in his body and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.

The court concluded that the actions of the military personnel constituted the crime of unlawful force (Article 150, paragraph D of the Penal Code), as «in the absence of illegitimate aggression, violence, or resistance from the victim, the actions of the army officials were not justified; they acted abusively, violating the principles of necessity and proportionality.»

The ruling indicated that, in this specific situation, the authorized means according to protocols were «preventive measures, specifically physical presence and dialogue.»

In determining the penalty, the court considered three mitigating circumstances but also weighed the severity of the harm caused. In its reasoning, the verdict is unequivocal about the significance of the accused’s conduct.

«It has been taken into account that the accused, as members of the Armed Forces, held the legitimate trust of citizens that their actions would conform to the basic rules governing the use of force in a rule of law,» it stated.

Therefore, despite the mitigating factors, the maximum penalty for this offense within the applicable framework was imposed, in addition to suspension from duties. However, considering they met the legal requirements, the actual imprisonment was substituted with conditional remission, a measure that exempts them from incarceration as long as they do not reoffend during the probation period.

The ruling orders that within five days of becoming final, «the sentenced individuals must present themselves to the corresponding institutional authority to initiate compliance with the substitute penalty, under penalty of being detained.» Supervision during the year of conditional remission will be managed by the respective military institutional judge.