Chilean president says masses killed during Pinochet regime

Chile's President says a number of political dissidents who disappeared in the early months of General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship were killed and thrown into the sea.

President Ricardo Lagos says military officials went quietly into their ranks, active or retired, to determine what happened to more than 1,100 dissidents who disappeared after being arrested by Pinochet's security services.

The six month investigation - the result of an agreement last year involving the military, church representatives, human rights lawyers and activists - yielded information on the fate of 180 people, he said.

"The information gathered speaks of deaths, clandestine graves, bodies thrown into the sea, the lakes and the rivers of Chile," said President Lagos, who received the military documents containing the information on Friday before handing them to the court of justice.

Many of the bodies will never be found, he said.

Some 3,200 people were killed for political reasons during Pinochet's 17-year reign, and 1,197 dissidents disappeared, according to an official report by the civilian government that succeeded Pinochet.

President Lagos has praised the military for delivering the information and admitting the abuses. The military, President Lagos said, "share the pain that those acts provoked. Today's men in uniform have had to respond for the actions of the men in uniform from yesterday."

Pinochet, meanwhile, has refused a court order to undergo medical tests to determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial on human rights charges. His lawyers say he also will skip a scheduled legal questioning session on Tuesday.

Judge Juan Guzman is attempting to renew his indictment of the former dictator for atrocities committed by the Caravan of Death, a military group that executed 55 political prisoners shortly after Pinochet's 1973 coup.

Guzman's previous indictment was overturned by the Supreme Court last month, ruling that he failed to question Pinochet before the charges were filed, as required by law.