He was part of a medical team at the service of the former National Intelligence Center (CNI), whose purpose was to keep alive prisoners subjected to torture in the regime’s clandestine prisons.

Although the exact number of victims who passed through his hands is unknown, in recent January a court sentenced him to eight years in prison for the death in 1979 of Professor Federico Alvarez, a militant of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

After the end of the dictatorship, the doctor had a normal life, he was the personal physician of former President Sebastián Piñera and, although he did not engage in political activities, one of his brothers, Harry Jurgensen, was governor of the southern Lakes Region.

When he was finally brought to trial along with other repressors, he remained free despite the seriousness of his crimes and this allowed him to flee after the sentence was pronounced.

His arrest occurred over the weekend at Argentina’s Ezeiza International Airport, moments before boarding a flight to Germany.

The Chilean judicial authorities are currently moving forward with extradition proceedings for the torturing doctor, who will have to remain in prison for the duration of the process.

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