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Chileans indicted over 1973 killing

Five high-ranking retired navy officers were indicted on Friday for the abduction, torture and killing of a British-Chilean priest and other dissidents on floating detention centers in the days following Chile’s 1973 military coup.

The priest, Michael Woodward, was taken into custody by security forces in the port city of Valparaiso on Sept. 16, 1973, five days after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power.

Woodward was allegedly tortured with other detainees on at least two navy ships used as detention centers and died on Sept. 22. He was buried in a mass grave and his family was provided with a certificate saying he died of cardio-respiratory problems. But prosecutors believe he died from his injuries under torture.

On Friday, Judge Eliana Quezada said she indicted retired admirals Sergio Barros, Guillermo Aldoney and Adolfo Walbaum and retired navy captains Sergio Barra and Ricardo Riesgo for the kidnapping and torture of Woodward and other members of leftist groups.

The five men were taken into custody and sent to military barracks in Valparaiso on Friday.

Also charged was Carlos Costa, a navy doctor.

Quezada said the defendants all maintain their innocence, but they could not be reached.

Woodward, 42 at the time of his death, had been suspended from the Roman Catholic priesthood and joined the Christians for Socialism, said a report by a commission appointed by the first post-Pinochet civilian government to investigate the rights abuses during the 1973 to 1990 dictatorship. He had Chilean and British citizenship.

Woodward’s sister, Patricia, applauded the indictments.

“The case of my brother has taken a very important step ahead,” she said. “I hope this means we are reaching truth and justice for Miguel and other victims of the navy.”

On Thursday, a former chief of Pinochet’s secret police was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Retired General Manuel Contreras, 78, was found guilty of the disappearance of radio technician Marcelo Salinas, who was last seen in a government detention center a few weeks after his 1974 arrest.

He is presumed dead.

About 3,200 people were killed for political reasons under Pinochet, the commission found.
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