Colonia Dignidad: German court upholds jail term in Chile child abuse case
A German man who fled Chile after being sentenced to five years in prison for child sex abuse must serve his sentence in Germany. Hartmut Hopp was part of the notorious Colonia Dignidad enclave.
Date 14.08.2017
Harmut Hopp - who helped run the notorious Colonia Dignidad colony in Chile - must serve the five-year jail sentence handed to him by a Chilean judge, a German court in Krefeld ruled on Monday.
Hopp was sentenced in Chile back in 2011 for 16 counts of aiding the sexual abuse of children over several decades. However, he managed to flee to Germany before the sentence took legal effect, living freely in the western town of Krefeld.
. . .
Schäfer, a German lay preacher, former Nazi soldier and convicted pedophile, fled Germany to Chile after World War II and founded the colony in the 1960s. Located in a remote mountainous region around 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the capital Santiago, the colony was intended to project an image of harmonious and communal living. At its peak, hundreds of German immigrants resided there.
However, allegations of child sex abuse soon emerged, after a number of former residents managed to escape the heavily-guarded enclave. However, Colonia Dignidad was allowed to continue to run with relative impunity, thanks to key political links enjoyed by its leaders. As well as being the scene for decades of child sex abuse, reports later uncovered that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet had used the colony to torture and kill political dissidents. Residents are alleged to have taken part in the torture.
More:
http://www.dw.com/en/colonia-dignidad-german-court-upholds-jail-term-in-chile-child-abuse-case/a-40089137
LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10141843591
