Ex-military officers convicted for 1973 murder of Chile folk singer Víctor Jara

AChilean judge has convicted nine retired soldiers in the 1973 murder of one of the nation’s most beloved folk singers, Víctor Jara, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Jara, 40, was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973 CIA-backed coup that overthrew Salvador Allende and installed Augusto Pinochet as dictator.

Jara’s body was found days later, riddled with 44 bullets. He had been held, along with around 5,000 other political prisoners, in a sports stadium where he was interrogated, tortured and then killed. Among other horrors, the singerguitarist’s fingers were crushed, broken by rifle butts and boots.

“Judge Miguel Vázquez Plaza convicted nine retired members of the Army for their responsibility in the homicide of singer Víctor Jara and the ex-director of prisons Littre Quiroga Carvajal, in September 1973 in Santiago,” a statement from the judiciary said.

Eight of the accused – who held ranks from lieutenant to colonel and brigadier – were sentenced to 15 years and one day in prison for their roles as “perpetrators” of both murders. They all received another three years for kidnapping the two victims. A ninth officer received five years and a day for being an accessory to the murders, and 61 days for his role as an accessory to the kidnappings.