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Original article: Corte rebaja indemnización a sobreviviente de torturas de la CNI y fija pago en $40 millones

In a split decision that reignites discussions on the assessment of moral damages in human rights violation cases stemming from the civic-military dictatorship, the Santiago Court of Appeals has significantly lowered the compensation amount the State is required to pay to M.H.F.N., a survivor of torture inflicted by agents of the now-dissolved National Intelligence Center (CNI) in 1986.

The appellate court has set the moral damage compensation at $40,000,000, which is less than what had previously been considered in earlier legal proceedings.

This ruling, issued by the Thirteenth Chamber of the appellate court, upheld the contested judgment made by the Twenty-Third Civil Court of Santiago but made a substantial modification: a prudent reduction of the compensation amount “in proportion to the proven damage.”

The decision, linked to court case number 2,394-2025, garnered majority support from judges Claudia Lazen Manzur and Andrea Soler Merino, while Judge Carolina Vásquez Acevedo opposed the ruling, leaning towards dismissing the victim’s claim.

CNI Torture Survivor During the Dictatorship

The judicial action stems from events on May 8, 1986, when 23-year-old M.H.F.N. was arrested at his home located at Calbuco N°3003, El Vivero neighborhood, Maipú, Santiago. According to the account in the case, around 7:00 AM, as he was about to leave for work, a soldier in camouflage stopped him, informing him that a raid would take place in the area. An hour later, around 8:00 AM, armed officers from Carabineros and civilians with armbands violently stormed the property, destroying mattresses, walls, and furniture while physically assaulting the occupants.

The situation escalated when unidentified civilians entered, continuing the physical assaults before binding the young man’s hands and feet and forcing him into the trunk of a car alongside F.E.M., another person present at the location. Through a small opening in the trunk, the victim realized they were being taken to the Borgoño barracks, located on Avenida Santa María, a location that operated as a CNI detention and torture center.

Once at the facility, he endured a series of torments that would last for seven to eight days, during which he was blindfolded, made to descend a staircase leading to a basement, stripped in the presence of insults and blows, and dressed in a blue jumpsuit.

In the interrogation room, agents attached three wires—one to each hand and one to his forehead—and approximately every five minutes applied electric shocks of such intensity that he could not remain standing. Simultaneously, he was struck in the stomach, testicles, and back as his captors threatened him with drowning in a barrel filled with excrement.

The torment continued as he was moved to a cell from which he could hear the agonizing screams of his fellow captives while agents screamed: “Listen, you sons of bitches, we will exterminate all of you and eliminate your wives and children; none will be left alive.”

Subsequently, he was subjected to a method known as the “Soviet-style torture,” a metal structure resembling a bunk where he was completely undressed and restrained in a supine position with leather straps. Four torturers participated in this session: one struck him with a strap on the most sensitive parts of his body—testicles, thighs, face, ears, eyes; another beat the soles of his feet with a stick until they were “two large swollen masses”; a third applied electric shocks all over his body, including his anus; while a fourth questioned him. Fuenzalida experienced repeated fainting and loss of consciousness, exacerbated by the electric shocks coursing through the metal structure.

As recorded in the documents, a supposed doctor examined the victim and authorized the continuation of the interrogations, later providing him with something to drink and massaging his legs and arms due to muscle contractions that prevented him from standing. Throughout his detention, he endured continuous psychological torture, including threats that his family had been killed.

Later, M.H.F.N. was coerced into falsely incriminating himself in front of a camera, signing blank documents, and simulating executions while enduring constant threats against his family. He was subsequently taken to the Second Military Prosecutor’s Office in Santiago, where he was detained at the Santiago Penitentiary, remaining incommunicado for approximately twenty to thirty days. He was deprived of liberty until January 1990, first at the Penitentiary and then at the Public Jail.

The survivor’s defense argued that his life was “violently interrupted” by state agents acting on behalf of the civic-military dictatorship, turning him into a victim and a survivor. They clarified that this transformation was not voluntary but rather due to “the interruption made by the State of Chile in his life through the agents it financed for this purpose” during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

According to the defense, the case involved crimes against humanity; they argued that “a state claiming to be democratic must indemnify every citizen who has suffered physical and moral abuse resulting from illegal detentions, torture, political imprisonment, persecution, and executions perpetrated by its agents. Denying moral damage reparations that will continue to exist in the lives of victims and their families compels them to endure ongoing injustice.”

Reduction of Compensation

The appellate court based its decision to reduce the compensation amount on a restrictive evaluation of the evidence presented.

In the ruling, the justices noted that “the evidence described in the fifth finding of the contested judgment, regarding the damages, reflects moral harm on the mental health level related to human rights violations committed during the military dictatorship, producing a diminishment to the victims of those crimes in general terms, in their extrapatrimonial sphere, with psychological repercussions; however, no reports nor evidence were provided regarding the particular situation of the actor M.H.F.N.”

This assessment was crucial to moderating the compensation amount. “Under these conditions, this Court finds that the proven damage can be compensated with an amount not exceeding $40,000,000 (forty million pesos), which will be awarded, partially granting the request for reduction from the State of Chile,” the ruling added.

The resolution also clarified the financial terms of the compensation, ordering that “the sum regulated as moral damage will accrue readjustments from the time the judgment becomes final until actual payment, and interest from the moment the debtor has defaulted until actual payment, all in accordance with the provisions of articles 1557 and 1551 No. 3 of the Civil Code in relation to article 752 of the Civil Procedure Code.”

See the Court of Appeals ruling

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