In Chile, ex-general gets 2 life terms
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Trials of the alleged perpetrators of human rights atrocities committed across various countries in Latin America during the ‘dirty wars’ of the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s continue, and yesterday a Chilean judge sentenced the country’s former intelligence chief, retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, to two life prison terms for masterminding a double assassination that was one of the most notorious covert operations conducted by this country’s military government.
McClatchy News Service reports that the historic court decision, which can be appealed, holds Contreras responsible for the murders of Gen. Carlos Prats, the former army chief, and his wife in a 1974 bombing attack in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
‘The sentence is the harshest to be handed out so far in this country’s ongoing human-rights prosecutions and should help resolve what was long one of the most painful episodes of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rule.’
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City