The case dealt with the enforced disappearance of twelve advisers and collaborators of former President Salvador Allende, in 1973. The ruling by the Court of Appeals dealt specifically with the applicability of statute of limitations of crimes against humanity. The Court decided that such limitation does not apply to crimes against humanity, and that this rule in their view has acquired jus cogens status. The ruling also makes reference to Hague Convention IV (1907) and the Martens Clause therein, as expressions of the need to treat persons humanely during armed conflict, as well as to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The Court also discarded the applicability of the amnesty provision in Article 6(5) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, due to the fact that the Protocol post dates the relevant events. Finally, the Court made reference to the rule that states that the presence of non-civilians does not strip a population of its civilian character.

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