Chilean court adds more charges to Pinochet's cases

Santiago's Sixth Appeals Court on Friday added five more charges to the former dictator Augusto Pinochet's charge sheet.

The court raised the number of charges in the Operation Colombo case from nine to 14, at the request of the family of Arturo Barria Araneda, one of five victims cited in the case.

Pinochet had previously pleaded ignorance of these crimes, but in Friday's ruling, judges said it was impossible, that as president and head of the army, he could have been kept ignorant of the actions of the now-defunct National Intelligence Directorate (DINA).

Judges said during Operation Colombo, Chile's DINA and similar oppressive governmental bodies in Argentina and Brazil worked together to cover the disappearance of 119 opponents of Pinochet's military regime in 1975.

Source: Xinhua