Chile ex-mayor arrested, charged with Pinochet-era crimes

Chile ex-mayor arrested, charged with Pinochet-era crimes
Source: Reuters - Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:32 GMT

By Anthony Esposito

SANTIAGO, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The ex-mayor of an upscale Santiago neighborhood was arrested and charged on Monday in connection with an ongoing investigation into human rights crimes committed in Chile during General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.

Cristian Labbe, a retired colonel who also served as an aide to Pinochet and later as mayor of the capital's Providencia district, is being prosecuted along with nine other former military members and police officers, said lawyers for the government's human rights department.

Judge Marianela Cifuentes ordered Labbe's arrest and decided to prosecute him for unlawful association as a member of Pinochet's notorious DINA secret police.

"The (Interior Ministry's) human rights department asked for Cristian Labbe Galilea to be prosecuted for homicide, kidnapping, torture and unlawful association," said lawyer Rodrigo Lledo, head of the program's legal division.

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Labbe's lawyer told local media that Labbe had never tortured, saying to 24Horas TV channel on Monday that Labbe's "conscience was clear and at ease".

"His defense says, he says, he didn't torture anyone directly. But what has been undoubtedly established is that while people were being tortured, he walked around the place acting as a consultant to those tortures," said Lledo.

More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20141020233213-irlre/?source=reOtherNews3

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Labbe, left, and General Pinochet



Labbe, taking his sunbath





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