Trial against 14 members of late Chilean dictator Pinochet begins

[News_Editor]

Trial against 14 members of late Chilean dictator Pinochet begins

2010-12-09 08:09:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- A Paris court on Wednesday began the trial in absentia against fourteen members of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet over the disappearance of four French citizens during the 1970s.

According to France24 news, thirteen Chileans and one Argentinian are accused of kidnapping, arbitrary detention, torture and barbarous acts against Etienne Pesle, Jean-Yves Claudet, Alfonso Chanfreau and Georges Klein.

The families of the four victims said that they hope that the criminal trial that began in Paris will finally provide them the justice they have so far been denied. The families were present when the judge read out the names of the accused who were not in court.

Some of the fourteen accused are currently serving short prison sentences in Chile and Argentina while others are living freely in Chile. The accused individuals will not be present at the trial and have declined legal representation for the proceedings.

"We've been waiting all our lives for justice," said Natalia Chanfreu, daughter of one of the deceased victims. "We hope these crimes will be recognized by the international community and the criminals will be recognized as such. Even if it’s far from Chile."

The four Frenchmen are among more than 3,197 people that have been officially recognized as murdered or disappeared during the dictatorship of the late Pinochet. The four French nationals were detained and disappeared between September 11, 1973 and October 1975.

Klein was a former adviser to left-wing president Salvador Allende, who was ousted by Pinochet in a 1973 coup. Pesle was a priest and both Chanfreau and Claudet were members of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR).

The court case is scheduled to end on December 17 and is the culmination of a 12-year pre-trial investigation. It was possible by two unique features of French legal system. French law can be applied to foreigners guilty of crimes against French citizens outside its borders.

The second is that forced disappearances were accepted as a continuous crime and thus the statute of limitations that would have exempted the accused from trial were canceled. However, if the defendants are found guilty they may not serve time in jail unless any of the men travel outside Chile.

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