SANTIAGO – This week, a Chilean court acquitted 68 of 75 people convicted for kidnapping and disappearing Maria Angelica Andreoli, a nutrition and diet student, on Aug. 6, 1974.
The crime against the Revolutionary Left Movement, MIR, member formed part of the Colombo Operation, a strategy planned by the National Intelligence Directorate, former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s secret police, to cover up the forced disappearance of 119 people.
After being taken from her house, 27-year-old Maria Angelica was transferred to the London 38 detention center, where she was interrogated, tortured and raped.
Three Pinochet agents jailed for killing political prisoners
The unanimous decision on Wednesday made by the Court of Appeals — which includes justices Marisol Rojas and Elsa Barrientos as well as attorney Hector Mery — was based on “the inability to attribute them with any function for the arrest or imprisonment of Andreoli,” the ADNRadio reported.
The other seven accused who were convicted include Pedro Espinoza, Miguel Krassnoff and Raul Iturriaga (each sentenced with 13 years), Cesar Manriquez (10 years) and Nelson Paz, Jose Enrique Fuentes and Osvaldo Pulgar (seven to 10 years). All of them are currently in prison for other crimes.
