'Co-authors' of Chile torture charged

[Judi Lynn]

'Co-authors' of Chile torture charged
July 17, 2012 08:33 PM

SANTIAGO, July 17, 2012: Chile charged two former officers in Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship Tuesday with being the "co-authors" of the torture that killed the father of former president Michelle Bachelet.

Alberto Bachelet was arrested in 1973 and court-martialed for treason for having been a member of president Salvador Allende's government prior to his overthrow by Pinochet's military junta.

Air Force colonels Ramon Caceres and Edgar Ceballos were arrested on Tuesday and charged with being the "co-authors of the crime of torture that caused the death" of Bachelet, Judge Mario Carroza said.

Bachelet, an air force brigadier general who opposed Pinochet's 1973 coup, was imprisoned until his death on March 12, 1974, when he was said to have died of a heart attack at the age of 51.

More:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2012/Jul-17/180923-co-authors-of-chile-torture-charged.ashx#ixzz20uEkSAnS

[center]



EPA

The future president backed up by her brother, mother and father in Santiago in 1961.



President Michelle Bachelet



Brigadier General Alberto Bachelet
Salvador Allende, President to whom
Bachelet remained loyal until death.[/center]

[Judi Lynn]

1. BBC News: Chile charges two over General Alberto Bachelet's death

17 July 2012 Last updated at 14:34 ET
Chile charges two over General Alberto Bachelet's death

~snip~
Last month, Judge Carroza said investigators had found that Gen Bachelet had died of heart problems aggravated by torture sessions after his arrest.

He said a new forensic study concluded that "all the interrogations to which Gen Bachelet was submitted damaged his heart and was the likely cause of death".

Gen Bachelet was held in a military academy for six months and tortured by members of the same air force he had led before the 1973 military coup led by Gen Pinochet.

Gen Bachelet died on 12 March 1974 while serving a sentence for treason in the capital, Santiago.

His wife, Angela Jeria, and his daughter Michelle were also held and tortured before fleeing to Australia.

Ms Bachelet became Chile's first female president in 2006. She now heads the UN women's agency.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18879593