24 Ex-Agents of Pinochet Dictatorship Convicted in Chile

Another 24 former agents of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship have been sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Santiago in Chile after being proven guilty in two criminal cases.

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Convictions against participants in Operation Colombo, an intelligence operation intended to cover up Pinochet's crimes, were based on the disappearance of an opponent and the kidnapping and torture of another, who survived.

The court sentenced General Raul Iturriaga Neumann along with Brigadiers Miguel Krassnoff Martchenko and Pedro Espinoza Bravo to imprisonment for seven years. Both are currently serving time in prison due to long-term convictions.

For their role in the crimes, Manuel Carevic, Gerardo Godoy, Ricardo Lawrence, Palmira Almuna, Francisco Ferrer, Fernando Lauriani and Rolf Wenderoth were each sentenced to five years in jail.

Court proceeding focused on the kidnapping of Washington Cid, a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement MIR, who was arrested in his home along with his wife.

In July, 1975, Cid's name appeared on the list of Operation Colombo's 119 victims. The operation was established to disguise the bloody work of Pinochet's military, carried out in collaboration with the Argentine and Brazilian juntas.

Survivors of the dictatorship testified about Washington Cid, whom they had seen in a poor physical state at the notorious Villa Gramaldi torture center.

The 11th Hall of the Court of Appeals also issued sentences against 14 agents of the dictatorship for the October 1, 1974, kidnapping of Edmundo Felix Lebrecht Diaz Pinto. Diaz was taken to the secret Ollagüe de Ñuñoa barracks in Santiago where he was tortured for four days before being transferred to a prisoners' camp for several months.

General Cesar Manríquez Bravo and Krassnoff Martchenko were sentenced to eight years in jail for ordering the kidnapping.

For the same crime, Ricardo Lawrence, Ciro Torre, Hermon Alfaro, Basclay Zapata, Nelson Paz, Jose Aravena, Claudio Pacheco, Jose Ojeda, Gerardo Meza, Jose Fuentealba and Raul Rodriguez Ponte received five years of detention.

Police Colonel Orlando Manzo Dura, an accomplice to the kidnapping, was convicted to three years in prison.