  |  | | Documents
Analysis of the ruling in the Miguel Angel Sandoval case |
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| |  | | Juan Manuel Guillermo Contreras Sepulveda | | | context : | Chile  | | judgement place : | Chili | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Final conviction handed down in several cases in Chile, last conviction on 30 June 2008 to two consecutive life sentences; trial in absentia in France set to begin in May 2008 | | position : | General, chief of the secret police under the Pinochet Regime |
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| | | | In the Miguel Angel Sandoval affair, the decision of the Fifth Chamber of the Santiago Court of Appeal is of historical significance.
This judgement constituted case law and denoted the end of impunity in Chile for crimes committed under the Pinochet dictatorship.
From a judicial point of view, this decision is interesting from several viewpoints:
- it affirmed that due to the “ongoing nature” of the crime of forced disappearance , the amnesty law decree of 18 April 1978 is inapplicable and criminal proceedings cannot be barred;
- it established the pre-eminence of International Conventions on Human Rights over internal State law;
- it demonstrated an interesting application of Article 18 of the Vienna Convention of 1969 on the Law on Treaties. The Court in fact concluded, with respect to the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearances which came into force on 29 March 1996 (signed by Chile and under ratification process at the time of the affair), that Chile was in breach of the objectives and goals of this Convention, if the crime of forced disappearance was to go unpunished. | |    | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Chile | | | date of birth : | | | 04.05.1929 | | | last time seen : | | | Santiago (Chili) | | | period of charges : | | | 11.09.1973 | | | charges : | | | Forced disappearances
Other
Torture
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 03.07.2008 |
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