 |
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | December 2005 
Pinochet Fingerprinted, Photographed by Chilean Police
 Agence France-Presse
| | Chilean police took mug shots and fingerprinted the former ruler over his indictment related to the murder and disappearance of leftist opponents under his dictatorship. (Reuters/Stringer) |
Augusto Pinochet was fingerprinted and photographed for the first time as police opened a criminal file on the former dictator for his alleged role in the deaths of political opponents in 1975.
Officers came to Pinochet's home in the elegant La Dehesa neighborhood, where he has been under house arrest for five weeks, to fingerprint and photograph the aging strongman, taking both a head shot and profile.
Judge Victor Montiglio, who ordered the procedure, granted a 46,000-dollar bail to the former strongman. The bail must be ratified by a court of appeals.
It was the first time ever that the former Chilean president was booked, although he has faced prosecution three times in the last five years on charges related to the deaths or disappearances of some 3,000 people during his 1973-1990 regime.
"There is no doubt, it's an insult," said Pinochet lawyer Pablo Rodriguez after Montiglio ordered the procedure.
Pinochet, 90, who was put under house arrest on November 23 after being charged in connection with the deaths of political opponents in 1975, lost a second appeal for release on grounds of ill health Monday in Chile's Supreme Court.
Judges voted three to two against Pinochet's habeas corpus appeal to have his house arrest lifted and the charges against him dropped.
Pinochet is accused on involvement in the deaths of 119 political opponents in 1975 at the hands of the secret police in the notorious Operation Colombo.
He has also been charged with fraud, providing falsified documents and making false declarations to avoid paying taxes, in connection with 27 million dollars he allegedly hid in US and other overseas bank accounts.
The Supreme Court rejected an earlier habeas corpus appeal for Pinochet on December 2.
In both cases, Pinochet's attorneys argued that his mental health would prevent him from receiving a proper trial. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us