Pinochet indicted on human rights charges News
Pinochet indicted on human rights charges

[JURIST] Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet [JURIST news archive] was formally charged with human rights violations Thursday and placed under house arrest on the heels of an unrelated indictment on corruption charges [JURIST report] filed Wednesday on which he was granted bail. This time Pinochet has been charged in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of six dissidents in 1974 after they were arrested by his security officers. The six disappeared in a case known as Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder] in which 119 people disappeared, some of whose bodies were later found in Argentina. The government claimed at the time that they had been killed by rival groups opposed to Pinochet. Pinochet, 90, was denied bail on this charge after neing declared fit to stand trial [JURIST report] on it earlier this month. According to the government that succeeded Pinochet in 1990, 3,190 people were killed during his regime for political dissent. Over 1,000 others remain unaccounted for after being arrested by his government. AP has more.