CHILE / FILE: Pinochet's family appeals to courts for release after first night behind bars

The widow and five children of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet appealed to to be released from prison on Friday (October 4) a day after being arrested as part of an investigation into allegations he stole $27 million of public funds and hid it in foreign banks. Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973-1990, died in December last year at age 91 without ever being brought to trial to face embezzlement and human rights charges. Pinochet's widow, Lucia Hiriart, and the couple's five children were arrested along with other government officials for illegal use of public funds linked to large bank accounts administered by Riggs Bank. The 84-year-old Hiriart apparently went into shock upon hearing the ruling and was taken to a military hospital in an ambulance. Through her lawyers, Hiriart appealed for her release on Friday. Prosecutors have always alleged that his wider family benefited from the alleged fraud and should be tried. But one of the Pinochet granddaughters, Maria Jose Martinez, separated Pinochet's children from the notorious dictator while speaking with local television crews. "Besides being the family of General Pinochet, these are people with children. There are a lot of people who are not guilty of anything and who are suffering a lot," Martinez said on Thursday. The year before he died Pinochet was charged with tax evasion linked to the estimated $27 million. He was also being investigated for fraud and embezzlement related to that money, which was frozen pending court cases. His three daughters, Lucia, Jaqueline and Veronica, were taken to a local penitentiary for woman. All three also appealed to be released. Pinochet's grandsons Augusto Pinochet Molina and Rodrigo Garcia both defended their family after visiting them in prison. "Yes, it's completely unjust. (Journalist asking: What do you base that on?) They are not criminals. They should not be in jail," Pinochet Molina said. Garcia, who was visiting his mother Lucia, said he was more worried about Hiriart. "What worries me about the situation of my mother and my aunts now is obviously my grandmother's health," he said, adding that the imprisoned members of the Pinochet clan were supporting each other. "They're calm and supporting each other and, well, they have faith that this will be resolved soon." One man stood in front of Garcia's car, holding a sign reading 'assassins, torturers and murderers'. The grandsons, Augusto and Marco Antonio, are being held at a me's prison. Pinochet, the most notorious of the military leaders who dominated South America through much of the Cold War, grabbed power in a U.S.-supported coup against socialist President Salvador Allende. More than 3,000 people died in political violence during the dictatorship. Some 28,000 people were tortured and hundreds of thousands of Chileans went into exile. Among the victims of the dictatorship was Chile's current President Michelle Bachelet, whose father died after being tortured in a Pinochet prison and who herself went into exile after being arrested and held in a torture center.

ITN Source | October 6, 2007

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