CHILE
The Law’s Long Arm
A Chilean court found eight retired soldiers guilty of murdering popular folk singer Victor Jara more than 40 years after his killing in 1973.
A ninth person was convicted as an accessory to the crime, the BBC reported.
The eight former military officers were sentenced to 15 years each on the murder charges and three more years for kidnapping, while the ninth officer received a sentence of five years.
Famous for his protest songs and a member of Chile’s communist party, Jara was arrested and tortured the day after General Augusto Pinochet ousted socialist President Salvador Allende in a military coup.
Because he was arrested along with some 5,000 others, there were many survivors who witnessed his interrogation and torture at the sports stadium in Santiago.
His body was found riddled with 44 bullets a few days later.
After decades of foot-dragging, Chile has been racing to address the crimes of Pinochet’s dictatorship before the deaths of witnesses, victims, and the accused makes doing so impossible, Reuters noted.
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