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Chilean court releases Pinochet
on bail
The fifth appeals court in the
Chilean capital on Monday
granted bail for former leader
Augusto Pinochet Urugarte in the
so-called Caravan of Death case
for the murder of opposition
figures in the 1970s.
The court's judges Alfredo
Pfeiffer, Haroldo Brito and Luis
Orlandini backed an earlier
decision by judge Victor
Montiglio, and set bail at
around 1,890 U.S. dollars.
The prosecution lawyers Hiram
Villagra, Hugo Gutierrez and
Boris Paredes argued that
Pinochet's family had
exaggerated a recent health
crisis as part of their defense
strategy.
It was unlikely that Pinochet,
91, could have suffered a heart
attack on Sunday and become
apparently well in less than 24
hours, Gutierrez said, citing
several cardiologists.
Pinochet's defense lawyer Pablo
Rodriguez described the
accusation as "an infamy,"
saying that Pinochet was subject
to an unfair political
prosecution.
Montiglio ordered Pinochet's
house arrest on Nov. 27 as part
ofan investigation into the 1973
kidnap and murder of Wagner
Salinas and Franscico Lara, the
bodyguards of former left-wing
president Salvador Allende whom
Pinochet deposed on Sept. 11,
1973.
The Caravan of Death is the name
given to a committee led by Gen.
Sergio Arellano Stark that
toured Chile in 1975 killing a
total of 75 political prisoners.
Pinochet currently faces trial
for four cases: the Caravan of
Death Case, two other cases of
widespread human rights abuses
and one for embezzling up to 27
million U.S. dollars from the
government.
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