On 25 May 2009, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Chile revoked previous decisions on the murder of Bernardo Lejderman and his wife, committed in December 1973 by three members of the Chilean military, and sentenced them to 5 years and one day in prison, without benefits. The civil complaint, however, was dismissed by the Court.

Although the Court sentenced the former military officers for murder, it also established that, at the time of the relevant events, the country was immersed in a non-international armed conflict as defined in Article 3 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, thus making certain provisions in such treaties "exceptionally applicable". Citing Article 146 of the third Geneva Convention, the Court underscored Chile's obligation to guarantee the safety of persons deprived of their liberty in times of armed conflict within its territory, being prohibited to allow the impunity of those committing offences against these persons. In this sense, it confirmed the inapplicability of amnesty laws or statutes of limitations to offences committed during the period in question, providing primacy to conventional and customary international law over the domestic law of Chile. Further, it confirmed statements made in previous Supreme Court cases in the sense that the non-applicability of statutes of limitations was a universal principle already considered customary law at the time of the crimes.

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