The files against Augusto Pinochet had begun to pile up on the desk of Juan Guzmán at the beginning of the year 1998. The Chilean dictator, who had left power in 1990, was still chief of the armies and was preparing to don the costume of senator for life offered to him by the Constitution adopted during his dictatorship.

The amnesty law had until then put an end to most investigations into human rights violations committed between 1973 and 1990.

By retaining the offense of "permanent sequestration" for people still missing, Juan Guzmán, magistrate of the Santiago Court of Appeal, can launch on January 20, 1998 in the investigation of the so-called "Calle Conferencia" case. ", which relates to the disappearance of several leaders of the Communist Party in 1976. In the months that follow, several hundred complaints are filed against Augusto Pinochet in various cases.

It is difficult to know what the future of these numerous procedures would have been without the arrest in London, on October 16, 1998, of the former dictator, at the request of the Spanish courts in several cases of human rights violations. Man.

To request his return, the Chilean authorities then rely in particular on the work of Juan Guzmán, showing that Chilean justice is on the move.

Augusto Pinochet was finally able to return home in March 2001 for medical reasons, after 503 days in England.

New unsuccessful attempts

A few days after this return, Juan Guzmán questions the former dictator and decides to indict him for the assassinations committed by the "Caravan of Death", a squad of soldiers who have traveled the country executing a hundred opponents after the coup of September 1973.

Juan Guzmán sincerely hopes to see Augusto Pinochet one day on trial in his own country.

But after submitting the former dictator to medical expertises, the Supreme Court decided in 2002 that the former head of state, who suffers from senile dementia, can no longer be prosecuted.

Juan Guzmán, however, succeeded in indicting him again in 2005 in another case, that of "Operation Condor", a concerted plan by South American dictatorships to eliminate their opponents.

But the magistrate fails to go further, the justice pronouncing, in September 2005, the release of Augusto Pinochet.

After thirty-five years of career, Juan Guzmán retired in 2005 and published his memoirs the same year.

Then he gave law courses and regularly intervened in conferences on the fight against impunity.

After the death of Augusto Pinochet in December 2006, he regrets in an interview with Deutsche Welle the unwillingness of the highest Chilean judicial authorities to see the former dictator tried, believing that this gave him the impression , during their two face-to-face meetings, of "normal mental faculties".

"A courageous judge"

The disappearance of Juan Guzmán, Friday, January 22 at the age of 81, has been greeted by many human rights lawyers, like Carmen Hertz, whose husband was one of the victims of the "Caravan of death".

"He was a courageous judge," wrote Carmen Hertz, now a member of Parliament, on Twitter.

un gran dolor x la muerte del Ministro Juan Guzmán, un magistrado valiente y digno q posibilitó primer desafuero del genocida Pinochet x crímenes de la Caravana de la Muerte y su procesamiento como autor, Nunca aceptó presiones del establishment y poderes fácticos, Honor y Gloria

- Carmen Hertz Diputada #Apruebo (@carmen_hertz) January 22, 2021

French lawyer William Bourdon also hailed on Twitter the memory of the "Pinochet killer", recalling having had the "great honor" of working with him to facilitate cooperation with French judges.

A great judge is dead; Juan Guzman the killer of Pinochet.

Great honor to have worked with him in Chile to facilitate cooperation with French judges.

Judges who turn against their parents, that exists, a modern requirement to the aid of the rule of law.

- William Bourdon (@ BourdonWilliam2) January 23, 2021

Because among the some 3,000 dead and missing of the Chilean dictatorship were several French nationals.

Four of them are still missing.

The trial in absentia of their executioners took place in France in 2010.

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR