amnesty international

£CHILE

@Human rights lawyer charged with sedition: case closed

by the Military Appeals Court

12 DECEMBER 1994AI INDEX: AMR 22/06/94

DISTR: SC/CO/GR

On 27 October 1994, the Military Appeals Court (Corte Marcial) ordered the Second Military Prosecutor's Office (Segunda Fiscalía Militar) to close the case against human rights lawyer Héctor Salazar Ardiles, arguing that the investigation had been exhausted. Héctor Salazar works with the Fundación de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas, FASIC, Christian Churches Social Aid Foundation.

Héctor Salazar had been charged with "sedition and inducement to disorder causing the loss of commitment of troops [to the armed forces]" ("sedición impropia, inducción al desorden y a tibieza en el servicio de las tropas") in April 1994.

The charges followed interviews in a newspaper and television channel, in which Héctor Salazar had made critical remarks about the chief of Carabineros, General Rodolfo Stange -- named as one of seven Carabinero officials involved in obstructing investigations into the assassination of three political activists and members of the Communist Party in 1985 (see Chile: Human rights lawyer charged with sedition, AI Index: AMR 22/02/94, published in April 1994).

General Stange has since been cleared by the Supreme Court of any involvement in this case.

In August 1994, the Supreme Court had resolved that Héctor Salazar had not incurred in any fault. This decision was disregarded by the Second Military Prosecutor's Office, who continued legal proceedings against him, until ordered by the Military Appeals Court to close the case.

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