investigations office. From there he was taken to the public prison of La Serena where he was turned over to military officers. His wife visited him there on several occasions. On October 16, 1973 he was executed together with 14 other persons in the Arica Military Regiment. According to the petition, this execution was carried out at the orders of the socalled “Caravan of Death", the military leader of which reported to the press that "in accordance with orders from the wartime military tribunals the following persons were executed (…) Jorge Ovidio Osorio Zamora and 14 other persons". The petition also claims that Mr. Osorio's body was illegally buried in a common grave at the La Serena cemetery. 6. According to the petitioner, these facts were recognized by the Chilean State in the Official Report of the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the "Rettig Commission"), which indicated that the 15 executions had been carried out by government officials acting outside the law, and that the bodies had been secretly buried. The petitioner adds that it was only in 1998, after the advent of the democratic régime, that the bodies were exhumed from the common grave, whereupon it was established that Mr. Osorio had been tortured before he was killed. 7. The petitioner maintains that these facts were investigated by military tribunals, but that they reached no concrete conclusion and the case was closed definitively on the basis of the amnesty law. Beginning in 1998, however, proceedings were brought against Augusto Pinochet in the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and “the investigation into the socalled Caravana de la Muerte thereupon continued and a significant number of military personnel were tried. That process is still underway.” 8. In 1997, the widow and children of Mr. Osorio Zamora presented a claim for compensation before the Eighth Civil Court of Santiago (the "Morales con Fisco de Chile" case). On January 27, 1999 the Eighth Civil Court of Santiago dismissed the claim, declaring that under the statutory limitations of civil law the time period for submission of the claim had lapsed. The claimants appealed that judgment to the Court of Appeals of Santiago. On December 10, 2002 that tribunal upheld the first instance ruling. The claimants then brought an action for cassation against that decision before the Supreme Court, which on March 25, 2003 dismissed the appeal (as desierto) for failure to comply with a formality requiring payment for photocopies. The case was thereupon returned to the court of first instance, which confirmed its original judgment (with an order of cúmplase) on April 2, 2003. This was the last decision issued in the case. 3