Chilean court upholds bail for Pinochet's relatives

A Chilean court today ordered the release on bail of General Augusto Pinochet’s widow, five children and former associates, two days after they were arrested on corruption charges.

Judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes said the three member-panel unanimously agreed to allow 23 relatives and associates of the former dictator to be freed and set bails ranging from US$200 to US$590. The appeals court ruling upheld Friday’s decision by a judge to grant them bail.

Pinochet’s two sons – Augusto and Marco Antonio – and the former ruler’s secretary, Monica Ananias, were exempted from payment because they had already posted bail in an earlier stage of the case.

All the suspects were to be released as soon as prison authorities were notified of the ruling and bails were posted.

On Thursday, Judge Carlos Cerda ordered the suspects’ arrest and charged them with misuse of fiscal funds during the 1973-1990 dictatorship. The case stems from the former dictator’s multimillion dollar bank accounts in the US and elsewhere.

Pinochet himself was under indictment in the case when he died last December at age 91.

Those arrested included Pinochet’s widow, Lucia Hiriart, his five grown children and six retired army generals, among others. Hiriart was being held at the Santiago Military Hospital after she reportedly sustained a blood pressure rise.

Pinochet and his associates have steadfastly denied any wrongdoing in connection with the bank accounts, saying the funds were legitimate savings and investments, plus donations Pinochet received.

The family lawyer, Pablo Rodriguez, called the legal accusations “an unprecedented, open political persecution”.

The case exposed the divisions Pinochet still inspires among Chileans. Fights between supporters and foes of Pinochet broke out repeatedly in front of the different facilities were the indicted were being held.

At least 3,197 dissidents were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship, according to an official report. More than 1,000 of them remain unaccounted for.

Cerda temporarily left the case on Friday to fly to the US to receive a human rights award at Georgetown University.