Bonn Rejects Chile’s Bid to End Immunity in Colony Case
West Germany on Sunday rejected a Chilean Supreme Court decision to remove diplomatic immunity from two West German diplomats in a case filed by a secretive German colony in southern Chile.
A West German Foreign Ministry spokesman said international law allows neither the limitation of diplomatic immunity nor its removal.
Chilean courts have twice stalled Bonn’s attempts to investigate reports that about 250 German citizens are being held against their will in Colonia Dignidad (Dignity Colony), located 250 miles south of Santiago.
The Chilean Supreme Court decided last week that Chilean courts could hear a case, filed by the colony to protect its privacy from Bonn’s investigation, against two diplomats attached to the West German embassy.
Former members of the colony have accused its leader, Paul Schaefer, of running a forced-labor camp where children are separated from their parents, drugged or tortured with electric shocks.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
