Original article: La impunidad pierde otra batalla: capturan y envían a prisión al último condenado prófugo por el asesinato de Víctor Jara

Impunity Takes Another Hit: Capture and Imprisonment of Nelson Haase Mazzei, Last Fugitive Convicted for the Murder of Víctor Jara

The minister in charge at the Santiago Court of Appeals, Paola Plaza González, has ordered the imprisonment of former Army lieutenant Nelson Haase Mazzei, who was the last fugitive convicted in one of the most iconic human rights violation cases during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship: the kidnapping, torture, and murder of singer-songwriter Víctor Jara and the then director general of prisons, Littré Quiroga Carvajal.

Haase, now 80 years old, was arrested on Saturday by the Police Investigations (PDI) at a property in the Puyehue commune, Los Lagos Region, where he had been hiding since the Supreme Court confirmed its final verdict against him.

Following his arrest, the minister in charge of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Paola Plaza, ordered his immediate incarceration to serve a sentence of 25 years and two days of effective imprisonment.

On August 28, 2023, the country’s highest court issued a final ruling against seven retired Army members for their involvement in the crimes committed in September 1973.

In a unanimous decision, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court convicted Nelson Haase Mazzei, Raúl Jofré González, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Ernesto Bethke Wulf, Juan Jara Quintana, and Hernán Chacón Soto to sentences of 15 years and one day of imprisonment as authors of the murders of Jara and Quiroga; and 10 years and one day of imprisonment for qualified kidnappings of both victims.

Meanwhile, former officer Rolando Melo Silva received a sentence of 5 years and one day and 3 years and one day of imprisonment for concealing the murders and kidnappings, respectively.

Additionally, the court dismissed the appeals for annulment filed by the defendants Jofré, Melo, Chacón, Dimter, Bethke, Haase, and Jara against the November 2021 ruling of the Santiago Court of Appeals, stating that «it is not null.»

Furthermore, the state was ordered to pay each of the claimants, the spouse and children of Littré Quiroga Carvajal, the amount of $150,000,000; and to each of his siblings the amount of $80,000,000. In addition, for the widow and children of Víctor Jara, a payment of $150,000,000 was ordered for each.

After the sentencing, the retired brigadier Hernán Chacón Soto committed suicide in his Las Condes apartment after detectives from the Human Rights Brigade of the PDI arrived to notify him of the sentence and transfer him to Punta Peuco.

DINA Agent Serving the Dictatorship

With the capture and imprisonment of Nelson Haase Mazzei, all those convicted for these crimes are either deceased or in judicial custody.

According to reports, as a lieutenant, Haase was assigned to Estadio Chile in September 1973 and was part of the military contingent sent from the Tejas Verdes Regiment in San Antonio, a unit under the command of Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, who would later become the director of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) serving Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Haase was among the first officers to be part of the DINA’s general staff, serving as a trusted man for Contreras and leading the Ongolmo brigade within the organization. Later, he also joined the company “Pedro Diet Lobos”, which operated as a front company used by this institution to conceal illicit activities both in Chile and abroad, aimed at managing and administering part of the financing necessary for its criminal operations.

Murder of Víctor Jara

Following the military coup on September 11, 1973, Víctor Jara was arrested the next day by the armed forces and taken to Estadio Chile, where he was tortured and brutally beaten his ribs were broken by kicks, and his hands were fractured by rifle butts.

According to witness accounts, while being insulted and subjected to brutal beatings, his tormentors mocked him and demanded he now play his guitar. After four days, he was murdered with over forty shots. His body was found alongside that of the former director of Gendarmería, Litre Quiroga, who was also shot dead.