14 ex-officials of Chilean dictator Pinochet face French trial in absentia over disappearances [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

14 ex-officials of Chilean dictator Pinochet face French trial in absentia over disappearances
By PIERRE-ANTOINE SOUCHARD , Associated Press
Last update: December 8, 2010 - 10:28 AM

PARIS - A French court put 14 former Chilean officials on trial in absentia Wednesday over the disappearance of French citizens under the regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The 14, mostly former high-ranking military officials, face charges including kidnapping and torture and are the subject of international arrest warrants. They face up to life in prison, if convicted.

While the defendants did not appear in court Wednesday, families of the victims hope the trial offers some justice more than 30 years after the four Frenchmen disappeared — and four years after Pinochet himself died following failed efforts in Chile and abroad to prosecute him for human rights abuses.

The 14 are being tried in connection with the disappearances of the four men between 1973 and 1975. Among the disappeared was Georges Klein, the doctor of Marxist President Salvador Allende, whom Pinochet toppled on Sept. 11, 1973, in a bloody coup.

More:
http://www.startribune.com/world/111527499.html