The following information was provided by Marcelo Bravo Valenzuela in a 3 [s1]January 2003 El Mercurio Calama article. While not specifically mentioning complaints against police officers, this article describes the procedures that a Chilean citizen must follow to report a crime in Chile.

Citizens can report a crime at any office of the Public Ministry (Ministerio Público), the Carabineros de Chile or the Policía de Investigaciones. For incidents occurring within penitentiaries, complaints can be lodged with the Gendarmería de Chile. Complaints may also be lodged with any criminal court such as oral criminal tribunals (Tribunal Oral en lo Penal) and local police tribunals (Juzgado de Policía Local). These tribunals are responsible for informing the Public Ministry of all complaints they receive. The complaint has to include the following information: the identity and address of the complainant, a detailed and clear account of the alleged incidents, as well as a designation of the perpetrator or perpetrators and of those present during the alleged incidents. The complaint can be made in writing or verbally. In the latter case, the complainant and the authority receiving the account will need to sign the record.

In a 2 August 2002 Qué Pasa report, Jorge Correa Sutil, the deputy director of the Ministry of the Interior, stated that the Chilean government was aware of a few complaints related to police abuses and that these were immediately channelled to the Carabineros for investigation. However, complaints that were deemed of a [translation] "serious or criminal nature" were channelled to the tribunals (Qué Pasa 2 Aug. 2002). When asked how frequently such complaints were made, the deputy director stated that there were some isolated cases and that the most appropriate places to lodge complaints against the police were in the justice tribunals (tribunales de justicia) with the help of the human rights offices of the Legal Assistance Corporation (Corporación de Asistencia Judicial) or the CODEPU [Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos] (ibid.).

According to the Website of the Corporación de Asistencia Judicial for the Santiago metropolitan region, the mandate of the organization is [translation] "to provide free legal aid to persons with limited resources, a right that is guaranteed in subsection 19 (3) of the Constitution" (Chile n.d.). The organization is divided into four zones which cover the entire country; the office for the metropolitan region alone covers an area with more than half of the Chilean population (ibid.).

Please consult the electronic attachment for information regarding the various offices of the Corporación de Asistencia Judicial in Santiago.

Attempts to obtain additional information from the CODEPU were unsuccessful within the time constraints of this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Chile. n.d. "Historia de la Coporación." http://www.cajmetro.cl/historia.htm [Accessed 4 Mar. 2003]

El Mercurio Calama [Calama, Chile]. 3 January 2003. Marcelo Bravo Valenzuela. "Cómo denunciar un delito." http://www.mercuriocalama.cl/site/edic/20030102203741/pags/20030103000104.html [Accessed 11 Feb. 2003]

Qué Pasa [Santiago]. 2 August 2002. "Los casos de tortura están prácticamente desaparecidos." http://www.quepasa.cl/revista/2002/08/02/t-02.08.QP.NAC.CORREA.html [Accessed 11 Feb. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Carabineros de Chile

Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo (CODEPU)

Equipo Nizkor

El Mercurio [Santiago]. Search engine

Policía de Investigaciones

Que Pasa [Santiago]. Search engine

La Semana Jurídica [Santiago]. Search engine

El Siglo [Santiago]. Search engine

Search engines:

Alltheweb.com

Google

Attachment

Chile. n.d. "Teléfonos de Consultorios Corporación de Asistencia Judicial." http://www.cajmetro.cl [Accessed 4 Mar. 2003]
Electronic Attachment

Chile. n.d. "Teléfonos de Consultorios Corporación de Asistencia Judicial." http://www.cajmetro.cl [Accessed 4 Mar. 2003]

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