bad_meetz_evil
03-22-2006, 03:26 AM
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday indicted a retired general and 12 other retired army officers on homicide charges in one of the most notorious cases of human rights violations during Gen. Augusto Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship in Chile.
Judge Victor Montiglio ordered the arrest of the 13 retired military men in connection with the so-called Caravan of Death, in which 75 jailed dissidents were killed by a military party that toured the country in a helicopter in the weeks immediately after the 1973 coup led by Pinochet.
Tuesday's indictments cover 42 of the victims.
The officers indicted Tuesday served at regiments visited by the caravan and allegedly participated in illegal executions and burials, Montiglio said. A dozen other officers who allegedly flew in the helicopter have also been indicted in the case.
Pinochet was indicted in the case in 2001, but the Supreme Court ruled he was physically and mentally unfit to stand trial and dropped the charges.
In spite of that ruling, the 90-year-old former dictator faces other indictments on human rights and corruption charges. He is free on bail in a case in which he is charged with tax evasion. He has been diagnosed with mild dementia, suffers from diabetes and uses a pacemaker.
The Caravan of Death case was first handled by Judge Juan Guzman, who is now retired and who issued the first indictment of Pinochet. Montiglio succeeded him two years ago.
Recently, however, Montiglio angered prosecution lawyers and victims' relatives by changing the charges from kidnapping to homicide, which would potentially leave the alleged offenders covered by a 1978 amnesty law issued by the Pinochet regime.
The original kidnapping charges had been issued because the bodies of many of the victims have never been found. That, according to Judge Guzman, created "the situation of a crime still in progress," which would not be covered by the amnesty
Lawyer Hugo Gutierrez, representing several of the victims' relatives, said that Montiglio's decision to change the charges to homicide paves the way for the officers to receive amnesty in the case.
Rosa Silva, whose husband was one of the caravan's victims, made an appeal to legislators to repel the amnesty law.
Judge Victor Montiglio ordered the arrest of the 13 retired military men in connection with the so-called Caravan of Death, in which 75 jailed dissidents were killed by a military party that toured the country in a helicopter in the weeks immediately after the 1973 coup led by Pinochet.
Tuesday's indictments cover 42 of the victims.
The officers indicted Tuesday served at regiments visited by the caravan and allegedly participated in illegal executions and burials, Montiglio said. A dozen other officers who allegedly flew in the helicopter have also been indicted in the case.
Pinochet was indicted in the case in 2001, but the Supreme Court ruled he was physically and mentally unfit to stand trial and dropped the charges.
In spite of that ruling, the 90-year-old former dictator faces other indictments on human rights and corruption charges. He is free on bail in a case in which he is charged with tax evasion. He has been diagnosed with mild dementia, suffers from diabetes and uses a pacemaker.
The Caravan of Death case was first handled by Judge Juan Guzman, who is now retired and who issued the first indictment of Pinochet. Montiglio succeeded him two years ago.
Recently, however, Montiglio angered prosecution lawyers and victims' relatives by changing the charges from kidnapping to homicide, which would potentially leave the alleged offenders covered by a 1978 amnesty law issued by the Pinochet regime.
The original kidnapping charges had been issued because the bodies of many of the victims have never been found. That, according to Judge Guzman, created "the situation of a crime still in progress," which would not be covered by the amnesty
Lawyer Hugo Gutierrez, representing several of the victims' relatives, said that Montiglio's decision to change the charges to homicide paves the way for the officers to receive amnesty in the case.
Rosa Silva, whose husband was one of the caravan's victims, made an appeal to legislators to repel the amnesty law.