Six More Pinochet Lawsuits Filed Take Total to 201Six more lawsuits concerning victims of the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet were filed in Santiago Thursday, bringing to 201 the total facing the ailing general, court sources said.Five of the new suits were submitted to the Appeals Court by attorney Nelson Caucoto, representing relatives of people who were either executed or went missing during the former strongman's regime. The lawyer told reporters that one of the lawsuits concerned the case of Alejandro Avalos, a teacher at Santiago's Catholic University who was arrested in November 1975. Avalos' body was found several years later at a military site in Colina, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the capital. Senator Carlos Bombal, of the right-leaning Independent Democratic Union (UDI), is accused, along with 85-year-old Pinochet and agents of the former National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), of the "kidnap and homicide" of Avalos, Caucoto said. At the time of Avalos' arrest, Bombal was assistant to the rector of the university - who had been appointed by the military, The sixth suit was filed by actress Gloria Laso on behalf of a group of people formerly detained by the DINA, Pinochet's feared political police. The former detainees say they were tortured at a clandestine jail in Santiago. Judge Juan Guzman Tapia is handling all the lawsuits filed against Pinochet for alleged rights abuses. (Agencies) |
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