[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Chile on Tuesday upheld the life sentence [press release, in Spanish] for former National Intelligence Centre (CNI) director General Hugo Salas Wenzel for his involvement in the murder of 12 suspected opposition members in 1987. The sentence is the most serious handed down by a Chilean court for crimes committed during the reign of former dictator Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. The ruling cannot be further appealed.

Salas Wenzel was originally convicted for the killings in 2005, along with several officials who served under him at the CNI. Earlier this month, Chilean authorities announced the capture of former Gen. Raul Iturriaga Neumann [JURIST report], a former high-ranking intelligence official with the National Intelligence Directorate [FAS backgrounder] during Pinochet's rule. Pinochet, who died [JURIST report] last December without ever facing trial, ruled from 1973 to 1990 after staging a coup that displaced democratically elected President Salvador Allende [BBC profile]. Al Jazeera has more.