Pinochet bodyguard arrested for murders at notorious military base

A former bodyguard of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested on Monday along with nine other former officials for the kidnapping and murder of 13 people during 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 of Santiago's Providencia district, was accused of illicit association with police, military personnel and civilians alleged to have tortured and killed opponents of the government.

The crimes were allegedly committed at the Tejas Verdes military base 120 kilometers west of Santiago, after the September 1973 military coup that brought Pinochet to power.

The investigation into the deaths, including those of three victims whose bodies were never recovered, concluded that all 13 were tortured and executed, some shot to death and others drowned in the Rapel river.

Labbe's lawyer, Cristian Espejo, expressed surprise over the charges.

Torture and homicide

"We are very taken aback, because after a long and extensive investigation it was shown that he never tortured anyone and has not committed homicide," Espejo told CNN Chile.

Espejo will seek Labbe's release.

Labbe was being held at an army barracks in Santiago.

Six of the other former government officials arrested are charged with torture and homicide, another with homicide and an eighth with kidnapping and torture.

"What has been established beyond the shadow of a doubt is that while people were being tortured, he was strolling around the place giving torture instructions," Rodrigo Lleido of the Interior Ministry's human rights program told reporters.

Tejas Verdes was a feared torture and detention center run by the National Intelligence Directorate, or DINA. Inmates were alleged to have been subjected to electric shocks, beatings, burns, having their fingernails extracted, simulated firing squads and other forms of torture.

Labbe, who retired from the military as a colonel, was mayor of Providencia, a municipality within Santiago, for 16 years until 2012. He has been a fervent defender of Pinochet.

The Pinochet government was responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 people and the torture of 36,000 others, according to official figures.

Reuters - AFP - AP

(China Daily 10/22/2014 page12)