The Chilean Supreme Court sentenced seven retired soldiers to up to 25 years in prison for the kidnapping and murder of singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, a few days after the coup. Augusto Pinocheton September 11, 1973.

It was a unanimous ruling, known two weeks after the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew the socialist president Salvador Allende.

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The country’s highest court sentenced seven retired Army officers to prison terms of between 8 and 25 years in prison for the crime of Jara, one of the most recognized voices of popular music in Chile and Latin America, reported AFP.

Who are the soldiers convicted of the murder of Víctor Jara

The Second Chamber of the highest court ratified the sentence handed down by the Santiago appeals court in November 2021.

Thus, he sentenced Raúl Jofré González, Edwin Dimter Bianchi, Nelson Haase Mazzei, Ernesto Bethke Wulf, Juan Jara Quintana and Hernán Chacón Soto sentenced to 15 years and one day in prison, as perpetrators of the murders of Jara and the then director of prisons, Littré Abraham Quiroga Carvajal; and another 10 years and one day as perpetrators of the qualified kidnappings.

While, Rolando Melo Silva He must serve 5 years and one day and 3 years and one day in prison, as a concealer of the homicides and kidnappings, respectively, reported Third.

Those convicted are between 73 and 85 years old and are all free.

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A member of the Communist Party, Jara was arrested, tortured and killed with 44 bullets after being arrested at the State Technical University, where he worked as a professor, days after the coup.

Littre Quiroga, was the national director of prisons and also a member of the Communist Party. His body, also with signs of torture, was found next to Víctor Jara’s on land near a railway.