Chilean judge indicts officers

The fate of the regime's victims is still largely unknown

A Chilean judge has indicted five retired army officers for political killings carried out after the 1973 coup by what became known as the Caravan of Death.

The judge, Juan Guzman, accused the five, including two army generals, of murdering 20 political prisoners in southern Chile, shortly after President Salvador Allende was deposed by General Augusto Pinochet.

The Caravan of Death roamed Chile after the coup, and Judge Guzman has said it killed at least 95 people altogether.

Judge Guzman indicted General Pinochet in 2001 on charges relating to the Caravan of Death, but the case against him was terminated last year on health grounds.

Political victims

Among those indicted by Judge Guzman on Monday were General Sergio Arellano, the commander of the squad which organised the killings, the Associated Press reported.

The five former officers were indicted for assassinations in three southern cities, the agency reported.

Two of them had previously been charged by the same judge with 75 similar killings in northern Chile, it said.

Charges against General Pinochet were dropped due to his heart condition and mild dementia.

He denied involvement in the killings.

A government investigation found that about 3,200 people were killed for political reasons during the Pinochet dictatorship.