EYES ON CHILE: POLICE VIOLENCE AND COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY DURING THE PERIOD OF SOCIAL UNREST AMR 22/3133/2020 ● OCTOBER 2020 amnesty.org Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion And are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. AMR 22/3133/2020 OCTOBER 2020 amnesty.org 2 CONTENTS 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2. INTRODUCTION 3. METHODOLOGY 4. ONGOING VIOLENCE 4.1. USE OF FORCE BY AGENTS OF THE STATE 4.1.1. Deprivation of life by excessive use of force 4.1.2. Harm to physical integrity using lethal weapons 4.1.3. Harm to physical integrity using potentially lethal weapons 4.1.3.1. Rubberized buckshot 4.1.3.2. Chemical deterrents and water cannon 4.1.4. Harm to physical integrity using physical violence 4.2. WIDESPREAD VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO PHYSICAL INTEGRITY 5. COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY 5.1. KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 5.1.1 Information from external sources 5.1.2 Official internal communications 5.1.3 Oversight of operations 5.2. FAILURE TO PREVENT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 5.2.1 Harmful ammunition 5.2.2 Inadequate protocols 5.2.3 Static planning 5.2.4 Similar and imprecise orders 5.2.5 Ineffective discipline 5.3. THE ROLE OF THE EXECUTIVE 6. CONCLUSION: PEOPLE’S PHYSICAL INTEGRITY, A NECESSARY EVIL 7. RECOMMENDATIONS AMR 22/3133/2020 ● OCTOBER 2020 amnesty.org 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In mid-October 2019, Chile began to experience one of the most tragic and at the same time most transformative episodes in its recent history. What started as a series of protests, mainly by students, against fare increases on public transport in the Metropolitan Region, triggered a wave of demonstrations that spread rapidly throughout almost the entire country. This mass display of discontent expressed demands for greater social equality and recognition and guarantees of social and economic rights, such as the right to a decent pension, housing, education and quality public health care. Although most of the demonstrations were peaceful, many of the protests involved damage to public and private property, such as some metro stations in the capital, damage to buildings and the setting up barricades to obstruct public roads. In response, the government of President Sebastián Piñera decreed a constitutional state of emergency and for 10 days in some regions of the country deployed the Armed Forces on the streets. They undertook joint operations in the policing of these mobilizations alongside the Carabineros de Chile (Carabineros). This strategy, far from calming things down, fuelled further protests The Armed Forces (whose function is not the public order policing of demonstrations) were accused of numerous acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. They used lethal weapons against protesters on several occasions and killed three people in the context of demonstrations, one of whom was shot dead. For their part, the Carabineros, on numerous occasions, instead of facilitating the demonstrations and dealing appropriately with outbreaks of violence, and far from restoring public order, injured thousands of people, hundreds of them seriously. Although many human rights violations by National Police officials had been documented in the past in Chile, the levels of state violence that occurred from 18 October onwards were unprecedented under democratic governments. In this report, Amnesty International presents a detailed analysis of the National Police strategy on the use of force between 18 October and 30 November. The organization focused on the Carabineros because the violation of the right to physical integrity by law enforcement officials was widespread (that is, these were not isolated incidents) and, as the police is the institution responsible for maintaining public order, a profound and structural approach is needed to prevent events such as those analysed here from happening again. Also because of this, Amnesty International paid particular attention to the police force’s strategic and decision-making commanders, as well as to certain tactical and operational commanders in the Metropolitan Area, which was the area selected as the sample for this research. In preparing this report, 12 cases of human rights violations were analysed in depth and more than 200 pieces of video footage were reviewed, as well as official information provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security to Amnesty International, data obtained through 14 information requests to the system for public transparency and documentation obtained from legal case files. THE USE OF FORCE TO INFLICT PAIN International human rights standards are unequivocal in stipulating that the use of force by law enforcement officials when policing demonstrations must be a last resort and guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and accountability. The use of lethal or potentially lethal force to maintain order in situations that do not pose a specific threat to the life or physical integrity of third parties is considered a disproportionate use of force. The force used must be proportionate to the legitimate objective pursued and based on the principles mentioned above. 4 Analysis of the evidence to which Amnesty International had access suggests that for a month and a half, police officials resorted not only to the excessive use of force, but also deliberately inflicted pain and suffering on protesters, with the intention of causing suffering or knowing that their actions could cause suffering. This widespread injuries, which in many cases had serious physical and psychological consequences for survivors, was the result of a premeditated practice of using force in order to punish protesters and disperse them at all costs. During the month and a half detailed in this report, the numbers of people attacked and injured were a clear indicator that force was being misused in a sustained manner and on a daily basis: ❱ More than 12,500 people required emergency treatment in a public hospital as a result of incidents that occurred during the protests, according to the Ministry of Health. In that same period, 2,300 police officials were injured. ❱ At least 347 people sustained eye injuries, mostly from the impact of pellets, according to the National Human Rights Institute (Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos, INDH). ❱ The Attorney General’s Office registered 5,558 victims of institutional violence, of whom 1,938 were injured by firearms and 674 sustained serious injuries, 285 of which were eye injuries. Among the victims, were 834 children and adolescents. Of the total number of complaints, 4,170 were against members of the Carabineros. ❱ The Attorney General’s Office registered 246 victims of sexual violence, six involved sexual penetration with an object and two involved rape, one of them multiple rape, and there were 134 investigations for torture and 4,158 for unlawful coercion (equivalent to ill-treatment). ❱ 1,946 crimes of threats and ill-treatment by police officials were registered, of which at least 692 related to crimes of ill-treatment by members of the Carabineros. Amnesty International verified that on numerous occasions police officers used deliberate physical force disproportionately and unnecessarily, beating people with batons, punching and kicking them, including after individuals were in state custody. In addition, several instances were recorded where people were knocked down, not accidentally but as a result of vehicles being deliberately driven into protesters. In the case of Alex Núñez, the injuries sustained by such beatings led to his death, and in the case of Josué Maureira, the violence inflicted constituted sexual torture.Cristóbal Flen sustained multiple injuries as a result of blows to the head and chest, as did Moisés Órdenes, who sustained over a dozen injuries, several of them serious, such as a collapsed lung (pneumothorax) and the loss of an eye. In relation to the cases of injuries caused by potentially lethal weapons, such as riot-control shotguns loaded with multiple kinetic impact ammunition, these were used as a tactical tool during the policing of demonstrations. This ammunition consisted of buckshot, made of a rubber and metal alloy, that cause a high degree of damage because they penetrate the skin and dispersed when fired. Such ammunition should not have been used, and should have been banned because it did not meet international standards on the use of force. Despite this, police officials used it in a virtually uncontrolled and indiscriminate manner, especially during October when more than 104,000 rounds were fired. In addition, in numerous interventions this ammunition was used against protesters who did not pose a risk to the life of tofficers or third parties, as in the case of INDH observer Jorge Ortiz. Officers were identified firing at parts of the body where there was a high risk impact could prove fatal, such as the head and chest. This, added to the fact that it is a notoriously indiscriminate form of ammunition, resulted in hundreds of people sustaining eye injuries. This deliberate practice was recognized in the cases of at least Gustavo Gatica, Renzo Inostroza and D.S.A.G, a teenage girl. Officers were also identified firing indiscriminately or at random in order to disperse people, without a specific aim, and injuring people, such as the cameramanAlejandro Torres and M.I.V.Q., a teenage boy; officials failed to take account of the fact that children and adolescents were present. Tear gas was used disproportionately to disperse people and was also fired with grenade launchers. On multiple occasions, the canister was fired directly at people’s bodies to cause injury and not as a dispersal tool.Fabiola Campillai lost her sight and senses of smell and taste after being hit in the face by a gas grenade.