Original article: Mantienen en prisión preventiva a oficial de Ejército imputado por muerte de conscripto Franco Vargas

Army Officer Held in Preventive Detention for the Death of Conscriptee Franco Vargas

The Arica Court rejected an appeal on Friday, February 13, confirming the preventive detention of Army officer Claudio Patricio Guajardo Pinochet, who has been charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office with the serious offenses of unlawful coercion leading to death and injuries to recruits, committed in April 2024 in Pacollo, Putre commune.

In a unanimous decision, the Summer Chamber of the appellate court—comprised of ministers Juana Ríos Meza, Nora Bahamondes Acevedo, and acting attorney Sandra Negretti Castro—upheld the ruling from the Arica Guarantee Court, agreeing that the release of the accused poses a danger to public safety and the victims. Read the full ruling HERE.

It is important to note that the National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) filed the initial complaint for unlawful coercion on May 8, 2024.

Subsequently, on May 13 of the same year, the INDH filed a second complaint regarding the death of Franco Vargas and advocated for the case to be investigated in civil courts due to human rights violations.

This argument was accepted by the Supreme Court, which on June 25 of the same year set a significant judicial precedent by interpreting restrictively the cases that can be adjudicated by military courts.

One Dead and Six Seriously Injured

According to the regional prosecutor of Arica, Mario Carrera, the conscripts were subjected to physical and psychological mistreatment, forced to drink dirty water, living in spaces with rodent feces, and sleeping in overcrowded conditions.

Regarding the cause of death of Franco Vargas, Prosecutor Carrera detailed that during the march on April 27, 2024, the young man suffered at least three fainting spells, emphasizing that the medical attention he received afterwards has been questioned by health personnel and other Army officials, evidence that was documented in the scene reconstruction presented to the court.

The prosecutor asserted that the accused, who have been discharged from the institution, engaged in multiple actions and omissions during the march initiated from a barrack in the Putre area, which contributed to the previously mentioned unlawful coercion offenses, resulting not only in Vargas’s death but also leaving six other young conscripts with serious injuries.

Continue reading about this case:

Five Former Army Officials Charged in the Death of Conscriptee Franco Vargas: INDH Intervened in Hearing

Justice Accommodates Expansion of Complaint in Connection with Conscriptee Franco Vargas’ Death: Accusations of Possible Cover-up by Chief Commander Javier Iturriaga

Franco Vargas Case: Lawyer Palamara Links Iturriaga and Two Deputies to Possible Crime in Barracks by Allowing Them to Fire a War Weapon

El Ciudadano