Judge orders Pinochet family freed

Cerda is in charge of a case in which Pinochet allegedly hid more than $25m with the help of the Washington-based Riggs bank.

 

The case came to light in 2004 when a US senate investigation found hundreds of accounts in the name of Pinochet and his relatives at the bank.

‘Decisive judiciary’

 

Hiriart had been transferred to a Santiago military hospital on Thursday after suffering a rise in blood pressure and requested that she remain under arrest there.

Her lawyers said her illness was caused by the shock of being placed under arrest.

 

 

Judge Carlos Cerda said he had ordered the arrests because of “solid indications that they had participated in the misuse of fiscal funds” during Pinochet’s 1973 to 1990 rule.

Under Chilean law, suspects can be kept in prison while an investigation is under way, even if they have not been found guilty of any crime.

 

 

Reaction to the arrests varied widely, reflecting the deep divisions Pinochet still inspires almost 10 months after he died last December at age 91 while under indictment on human rights and corruption charges.

In the lower house of congress, pro-government legislators celebrated by singing the national anthem.

 

Pinochet died last December while under house arrest

But a group of about 20 people, some carrying photographs and even small statues of Pinochet, gathered at the military hospital chanting slogans in support of him and his widow.

 

Cristian Labbe, a retired army colonel, who was a close aide to Pinochet and visited Hiriart at the hospital, called the indictments “cruel” and “a blow to efforts for reconciliation among Chileans”.

 

Angelica Cristia, conservative congresswoman, suggested a political motivation for the arrests, saying: “It’s curious that something like this happens right at a time when we hear a new opinion poll showing government approval continues to drop.”

 

Cerda’s ruling is investigating the multimillion-dollar accounts that Pinochet controlled at the Riggs Bank in Washington and other foreign banks.

 

According to court papers, some of those accounts may have been fed with funds from the so-called Military House, an office that aided Pinochet’s military activities during the dictatorship. Pinochet remained an army commander during his long rule.

 

Cerda estimated that some $7.9 million were illegally diverted from the Military House.

 

Pinochet and his associates steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, insisting the sources of the bank accounts were legitimate savings and investments, as well as donations.