[NYTr] Chile Ex-general of Pinochet dictatorship jailed for life

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

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BBC - Aug 29, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6967974.stm

Chile ex-general jailed for life

By Daniel Schweimler
BBC South America correspondent

Chile's Supreme Court has confirmed the life sentence handed down to a 
former general for his part in the murder of 12 opponents of Augusto 
Pinochet.

Hugo Salas Wenzel is the first such senior military officer to receive a 
life term for human rights violations.

Wenzel was the head of the intelligence service, the National 
Information Centre, which carried out the killings.

The young rebels had taken part in the failed attempt to assassinate the 
ex-military leader in September 1986.

Compensation payout

The military said at the time that the members of the Manuel Rodriguez 
Patriotic Front had died in gun battles with the security forces.

A later investigation found they had been detained and shot in cold blood.

Hugo Salas Wenzel is the first senior member of Augusto Pinochet's 
military government to be given a life sentence for human rights abuses 
committed between 1973 and 1990.

The court also increased the sentences of several other agents involved 
in the killings, known as Operation Albania.

The Chilean authorities last year awarded $570,000 (£285,000) in 
compensation to each of the victims' families.

Thousands of supporters of the previous government were killed, tortured 
or forced into exile during Gen Pinochet's 1973-1990 military rule.

© BBC MMVII