Augusto Pinochet

A US Senate investigation uncovered a network of secret accounts and structures used by Pinochet. The DOJ stated that he and his wife had deposited over $10 million at Riggs between 1994 and 2002 and that transfers had been made to evade scrutiny, including after a freezing order. In Chile, the affair prompted suspicions of tax evasion and forgery.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

In autumn 2006, a Chilean judge indicted Pinochet in connection with, among other matters, 23 cases of torture, 34 kidnappings and one homicide linked to a clandestine detention centre. He was placed under house arrest. Pinochet died on 10 December 2006 while several criminal and financial proceedings remained pending.

Attribution

Accused

Southern Cone dictatorships organised Operation Condor to pursue opponents across borders. Chilean and foreign proceedings examined Pinochet's role; in 2004, Chilean courts lifted his immunity in a case involving kidnappings, unlawful association and torture linked to Condor.

State of the evidence

Well documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Operation Colombo was a disinformation operation intended to conceal the kidnapping and murder of 119 Chilean opponents by suggesting they had died abroad in internal score-settling. In 2005, Chile's Supreme Court lifted Pinochet's immunity in this case.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Former army commander Carlos Prats and his wife were murdered in Buenos Aires by a car bomb in an operation attributed to DINA. Investigators sought to establish Pinochet's responsibility, but in March 2005 Chile's Supreme Court upheld his immunity in this case.

State of the evidence

Documented

Pinochet was arrested in London on 16 October 1998 at the request of Spanish judicial authorities concerning crimes against humanity and torture. British rulings established that a former head of state did not enjoy absolute immunity for torture and opened the way for extradition, before the British government released him on medical grounds.

Chilean legislation recognises Colonia Dignidad as a key site in the dictatorship's repressive system, used for detention, torture, intelligence and weapons storage. The site cooperated with security services under Pinochet's regime.

State of the evidence

Documented

The 1980 Constitution, which extended Pinochet's rule, was approved in a plebiscite held without an electoral register, fully active political parties or genuine independent oversight of voting and counting. Chile's Library of Congress describes the process and results as questionable.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Former minister Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt were killed by a car bomb in Washington. DINA agents were implicated and convicted; declassified US assessments attributed death-squad-type activities to security officials acting, in their assessment, on Pinochet's orders.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Command responsibility

Chile's armed forces overthrew the elected government of Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973. Augusto Pinochet took charge of the junta and subsequently became the central figure in the military regime that governed until 1990.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated