Pinochet indicted for executions

FORMER dictator General Augusto Pinochet was indicted yesterday and ordered to remain under house arrest for the execution of two bodyguards of Salvador Allende, the freely elected Marxist president who was toppled in a 1973 coup.

The indictment came after Pinochet’s 91st birthday on Saturday, which he marked by issuing a statement for the first time taking full political responsibility for abuses committed by his regime.

Yesterday’s indictment was the fifth time Pinochet has been put under house arrest on charges stemming from human rights violations during his 1973-90 dictatorship.

Pinochet was stripped of his immunity from prosecution in the case last July.

The indictment alleges kidnapping and homicide in connection with the deaths of two Allende bodyguards — Wagner Salinas and Francisco Lara — who were arrested the day of the coup, September 11, 1973.

Both men were executed by firing squad four weeks later, the military regime announced at the time.

There was no immediate reaction from Pinochet’s lawyers, but they are expected to appeal the indictment.