Late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's grandson has been discharged from the army because of his remarks defending the 1973 military coup that brought his grandfather to power, army commander General Oscar Izurieta said on Wednesday.
"He was told about his very serious fault and that he was being discharged," said Izurieta.
At Pinochet's funeral on Tuesday, 33-year-old Augusto Pinochet Molina praised his grandfather for overthrowing the elected Socialist government of president Salvador Allende in an army uprising rather than through elections.
His comments drew outrage from the Socialist government and President Michelle Bachelet, who along with her mother and father was tortured under the Pinochet regime. On Wednesday, Bachelet called for the army to punish him for his error.
"This is a grave error and we are certain that the army will know what to do," Bachelet said.
Izurieta made the announcement shortly before presiding over a graduation ceremony for army officers which Bachelet was also expected to attend.
The ceremony was held at Santiago's Military School where Pinochet's funeral took place and where his grandson made his controversial remarks, which included a strong criticism of the judges who went after his grandfather for alleged human rights violations and fraud during his 1973 to 1990 regime.
Pinochet died on Sunday, one week after suffering a heart attack. He was 91.
"He was a man who defeated at the height of the Cold War the Marxist model, which tried to impose its totalitarian model not by vote, but more directly by force of arms," Pinochet Molina said at the funeral.
After Bachelet urged swift punishment from the military, Pinochet Molina's father told a radio station that his son was thinking of leaving the military voluntarily.
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