Judge questions Pinochet over army colonel's death

A federal judge investigating the killing of an army colonel linked to an illegal arms sale questioned former dictator General Augusto Pinochet today.

Judge Claudio Pavez said he met with Pinochet at the mansion where he is under house arrest on a different case, but provided no details.

Pinochet’s spokesman, retired General Guillermo Garin, said he didn’t know why Pinochet was questioned.

“This doesn’t make sense, asking these questions to a person whose health is so bad, who can’t even remember things,” Garin said.

Pavez is investigating the death of Colonel Gerardo Hube, who was involved in a 1992 arms sale to Croatia, according to a separate official investigation.

Hube, who worked for the army’s arms factory, disappeared in early 1992; his body was found in a river near Santiago a month later. Pavez determined that he was killed, and has questioned many army officers but nobody has been charged.

As Pavez left Pinochet’s residence, a granddaughter of the 90-year-old former ruler told reporters that Pinochet’s legal problems are affecting his health.

“I think anybody at age 90 would be harmed with these situations,” Veronica Pinochet said.

“Grandpa doesn’t remember these things,” she said. “He gets confused with the judges questioning him. He thinks they are just people coming to visit him.”

Pinochet is under indictment in two separate cases on human rights and corruption charges.

He has been questioned by other judges and undergone a battery of medical tests to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

His ailing health caused the courts to block four attempts to try him for human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship.

He suffers from a mild dementia, diabetes, arthritis and has a pacemaker.

According to an official report, 3,190 people were killed for political reasons during Pinochet’s rule.