Status of the investigation in Chilean courts into the death of Charles Horman in Santiago, Chile in 1973:
January 2004:
Joyce Horman visited Santiago to meet with lawyers Letelier and Corvalan and to meet Judge Zepeda for the first time and give additional testimony in the case regarding issues raised by recent testimony of Rafael Gonzales Verdugo.
December 2003:
Judge Zepeda issues the first arrest in the case (Rafael Gonzales Verdugo) and declares that testimonies will be gathered from the highest levels of Pinochet's command, and that other arrests are likely in the next year.
November 2002:
Judge Zepeda completed his review of court testimony previously taken by Judge Guzman in the Horman case, and met with Horman lawyers, Letelier and Corvalan, to inform them that he was preparing to question new witnesses.
October 2002:
The investigation of the wrongful death of Charles Horman in Chile in 1973 was moved from Judge Juan Guzman to Judge Jorge Zepeda.
The US State Department sent two diplomatic notes to Judge Guzman. The notes have not been given to the family as yet.
September 2002:
American journalist informs Horman family that the U.S. State Department sent a diplomatic note to Chilean Government regarding the letters rogatory sent over a year earlier by the Chilean Supreme Court to the US Supreme Court concerning the Horman case. The contents of the note have not been conveyed to the Horman family lawyers.
July 2002:
Charles Horman's widow returned to Chile to give additional testimony to Judge Guzman.
Pinochet was officially deemed "mentally unfit for trial and released from house arrest. The investigation of crimes against humanity didn't stop.
May 2002:
More testimony was taken by Human Rights Investigating Judge Guzman from several new witnesses, regarding detention in the National Stadium in 1973, and relations with the U.S. officials in Chile at the time.
The Judge ordered and televised a live reenactment of victims' testimony in the National Stadium in Chile for court records, For the first time since 1973 the stadium as detention and torture center was being reviewed in situ in conjunction with court testimony from victims.
October 2001:
Chilean ex-patriots and refugees in England, France, Switzerland and Sweden who had been detained in Pinochet's National Stadium detention center were interviewed regarding the command hierarchy of the repressive forces and the process of detention, in search of details.
September 2001:
A request for investigative resources from the Chilean Judiciary was officially denied to the Horman case.
Letters rogatory questioning several U.S. Officials from 1973 were sent from the Chilean Supreme Court via diplomatic channels to the U.S. State Department for delivery to the U.S. Supreme Court.
July 2001:
Joyce Horman returned to Chile with three other Americans who had been in Santiago during the coup, and a Chilean, to give testimony to Judge Guzman regarding facts from 1973, surrounding the death of Charles Horman.
Two of the witnesses had been detained in the National Stadium in 1973 after Pinochet's coup.
The Chilean Government sent a diplomatic note to the US Government declining to move the Horman case to a highest level Supreme Court Judge.
June 2001:
The Chilean Supreme Court approved Letters Rogatory from Judge Guzman to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ask questions of several U.S. officials, including Henry Kissinger, regarding their knowledge of events surrounding the death of Charles Horman in Chile in 1973.
January 2001:
U.S. diplomatic note requested a Supreme Court Judge for the Horman case.
December 2000:
In consultation with Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer Peter Weiss, and Chilean lawyers Fabiola Letelier and Sergio Corvalan, the Horman family filed suit against Pinochet and several of his subordinates, with Chilean Human Rights Investigating Judge Juan Guzman.
August 2000:
Chilean Supreme Court rescinded Pinochet's senatorial immunity.
May 2000:
Pinochet is not extradited from England to Spain for trial of human rights crimes. Instead the British courts rule Pinochet medically "unfit for trial" and send him back to Chile.
April 1, 2000:
U.S. diplomatic note requesting an investigation into the Horman case was sent to the Chilean Government.
March 2000:
Chilean Government advised the US Embassy in Chile that a case must be filed with the Chilean Court system in order to be investigated.
January 2000:
US. Government requested that the Chilean Government conduct an investigation of the death of Charles Horman.
October 1998:
Agusto Pinochet was arrested in London on an international warrant from Spain requesting extradition to Spain for trial of crimes against humanity occurring after his coup in Chile on September 11, 1973 until the end of his reign 17 years later.
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