Nelson Haase, one of Victor Jara’s murderers, arrested three years after his conviction in Chile

Nelson Haase’s escape has ended. Chilean justice announced on Sunday July 26 the arrest of the ex-soldier, a fugitive convicted of the kidnapping and murder in 1973 of singer Victor Jara during the dictatorship era.

The man who was also a songwriter was tortured and riddled with 44 bullets on September 16, 1973, at the age of 40, five days after Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état. He was a leading figure in the New Chilean Song, a musical-social movement of the 1960s in the Andean country.

Nelson Haase, sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2023, fled when his judgment was announced.

“An incarceration order has been given against retired soldier Nelson Haase Mazzei,” the judicial authorities explained in a press release sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP), announcing his arrest by the police.

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Five other former soldiers already behind bars

According to local media, he was located in the Los Lagos region, 950 kilometers south of the capital Santiago.

Six other former soldiers were sentenced in 2023 to sentences ranging from eight to 25 years in prison for this crime. Five are already in prison, while General Hernan Chacon committed suicide during a police raid to arrest him.

Around 3,200 people were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

With AFP