“LA SEGUNDA”

 

June 15, 2005  

 

COURTS “AUCTIONED OFF” THE ONLY EVIDENCE OF DISAPPEARED                                                                                        AMERICAN BORIS WEISFEILER

 

The process on the disappearance of the mathematician, which occurred in January 1985, is in the hands of magistrate Jorge Zepeda. 

 

In a bundle auctioned together with other packages five years ago the things used by American mathematician Boris Weisfeiler until the moment of his disappearance, were lost.  He is the only United States citizen whose whereabouts is still a mystery that has not been solved by Chilean justice. 

 

The unusual sale – which involved the only existing testimonial evidence – became evident when Judge Jorge Zepeda resumed the investigation within the framework of his proceedings after being designated by the Supreme Court as responsible for the accusations against Colonia Dignidad for human rights violations.

 

According to information obtained by “La Segunda,” in September 1999 Weisfeiler’s things were part of a judicial auction, which included other series of goods accumulated in the facilities of the Second Criminal Court of San Carlos.  This procedure was registered in a certificate issued by the court and attached to the file originally held by Judge Gilberto Cornejo and then transferred to members of the Court of Appeals in Santiago Judges Juan Guzmán (2000) and Alejandro Solís (2000). 

 

The legal auction thus included a compass, a sleeping bag, a small tent, green military type trousers and a knapsack of the same color, which were all that remained of U.S. mathematician Boris Weisfeiler who disappeared in January 1985, whose kidnapping, torture and possible homicide are blamed on military government agents and members of Colonia Dignidad, led by Paul Schafer. 

 

These articles were found one week after Weisfeiler’s trail was lost, in an area 100 kilometers away from lands owned by Dignidad settlers. 

 

Although it was initially spoken of as an accident, the case took on an international aspect when in 1998 the U.S. Ambassador at that time, Gabriel Guerra Mondragón, asked the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Relations to investigate Weisfeiler’s whereabouts after hearing a statement by an anonymous person who during the last months of 1997 affirmed that the disappeared person had been captured and taken to Colonia Dignidad where he had been murdered with a shot in the head.