Original article: Se cae otra mentira de la dictadura: Corte reabre causa por muerte de José Tohá

Another Lie of the Dictatorship Unravels: Court Reopens Case into José Tohá’s Death

Yet another lie, upheld for decades by the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet with the complicity of the judicial system of that period, has crumbled after the Fifth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeals decided to reopen the investigation into the death of José Tohá González, who served as Minister of the Interior and Defense under former President Salvador Allende and was a member of the Socialist Party. This incident occurred on March 15, 1974, at the Military Hospital.

This ruling not only restores a sense of hope for justice for the victim’s family, but it also undermines the official narrative that sought to portray the death as a suicide.

The unanimous decision by the judges of the Fifth Chamber overturned two resolutions issued by extraordinary visiting judge Paola Plaza González, who had closed the case twice, claiming that the requested proceedings were unnecessary and that the investigation was exhausted. Both of these resolutions had been appealed by the plaintiffs at the time.

In place of those closures, the court has ordered to restore the case to the preliminary investigation stage and issued a number of new directives aimed at clarifying the circumstances surrounding the death of the former Socialist party member and father of Carolina Tohá, a prominent political scientist and former Minister of Interior and Public Security during Gabriel Boric’s administration.

The decision came after listening to the arguments from the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Nelson Caucoto, representing Tohá’s family, and Ilan Sandberg from the Ministry of Justice’s Human Rights Program, who requested the reopening, arguing that there is enough evidence to demonstrate that the former minister was murdered, contrary to the suicide narrative put forth by the dictatorship.

José Tohá’s Death ‘Is Attributable to Third Parties’

The case of José Tohá is emblematic not just for its political significance, but also for the brutality of his captivity. A lawyer and journalist, he was detained on September 11, 1973, at La Moneda and taken to the Military School. He then was held at Dawson Island, the Pudeto Regiment, and the Air War Academy, where he was subjected to systemic torture. At the time of his death, he was hospitalized but was found in a closet, hanged with his belt, weighing only 49 kg despite being 1.92 meters tall.

The official suicide narrative finally collapsed 36 years after his death, following the exhumation of his body on December 10, 2010: two forensic reports—from the Medical Legal Service and the universities of Chile and Concepción—concluded that the death ‘is attributable to third parties.’

Attorney Caucoto: ‘This Is a Historical Case That Must Be Clarified’

The path to this reopening has been long and fraught. Judge Jorge Zepeda, who initiated the investigation, condemned two Air Force officials for torturing Tohá, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court. Subsequently, Judge Miguel Vásquez charged the former chief of staff of the director of the Military Hospital, Jorge Luis Chovan, for homicide as an accessory, who has since passed away. However, the case stalled due to the closures ordered by Judge Plaza, which have now been overturned.

Attorney Nelson Caucoto celebrated the ruling and emphasized its importance: «For us, this is a new impetus provided by the Court of Appeals with this reopening, since it is a historical case that needs clarification, and there are grounds for it,» he stated.

“It is impossible for José Tohá to have been murdered in a military facility and for the investigation to end without determining the perpetrators of this crime,” he asserted, as quoted in a press release.

He remarked, «It has taken us 38 years to debunk the suicide thesis, 41 years to achieve a conviction for torture, and finally, 47 years for the first indictment for aggravated homicide of José Tohá to be issued.»

He concluded with an undeniable warning: «These crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished. The families of the victims have the inalienable right to have the processes fully clarified.»

In the case of José Tohá, the dictatorship’s lie falls apart once again in the face of the truth and the overwhelming evidence of the crimes committed.