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8 unusual facts about Juan Guzmán Tapia

Charles Horman

In 2001, Chilean judge Juan Guzmán Tapia conducted an investigation into Charles Horman's death.

Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional

Judge Juan Guzmán Tapia would eventually ask Chilean justices to lift Pinochet's immunity in this case, called "Operation Colombo", having accumulated evidence that he had ordered the DINA to plant this disinformation, in order to cover up the "disappearance" and murder by the Chilean secret police of those 119 persons.

Juan Guzmán Tapia

Guzmán was born into a Chilean diplomatic family in San Salvador, El Salvador.

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Arrested in London in October 1998 under orders of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, Pinochet was finally deemed unfit for trial and returned home in March 2000.

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In September 2005, the Court acceded to Juan Guzmán's request to strip Pinochet of his immunity concerning Operation Colombo.

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In May 2004, the Court stripped Pinochet again of his immunity from prosecution over fresh charges concerning Operation Condor.

Juan Maino

The court refused to investigate the case (in the Chilean criminal system of the time, the work of investigating, prosecuting and judging were concentrated into only one person, the Criminal Judge - see judge Juan Guzmán's autobiography, released in 2005).

Patricia Verdugo

Nearly all of the claims that Verdugo put forth in Los Zarpazos del Puma was later verified as factual and correct as the result of an investigation by Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who prosecuted Augusto Pinochet for the murder of opponents.