Chile court compensates 30 former political prisoners
Source: BBC News
19 November 2014 Last updated at 19:30 ET
Chile court compensates 30 former political prisoners
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10 Sept, 2013 file photo, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet, centre, wipes a tear as she stands with her mother , left,
and Margarita Romero, right, during a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the military coup, in Santiago, Chile.
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Chilean court has ordered the state to pay around $7.5m (£4.8m) to 30 former political prisoners.
They were were held on a remote island in the extreme south of the country during the military rule of Augusto Pinochet.
The prisoners, who include political leaders and government ministers, were held for two years from 1973 on Dawson island in Tierra del Fuego.
The justice ministry said they endured "immeasurable moral injury".
In a statement, the ministry said they were "detained illegally on an island on the edge of the world."
They were "mistreated and lived in a state of anxiety and uncertainty about their own fate."
The prisoners were held in crowded barracks in sub-zero temperatures and underwent forced labour.
Four of the prisoners died as the case went through the courts.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30124703
(Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, her mother, and her father, a high-ranking official in the Chilean military prior to the coup were all imprisoned and tortured by US-supported General Pinochet's dictatorship.
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The current President and her mother moved to Australia for a period after they were released, but the father, Chilean Brigadier General Alberto Bachelet, unfortunately was tortured to death in prison. Heart attack.) [/center]