Head of Pinochet's secret police under house arrest
The head of the secret police under Chile's former military regime has left prison after serving a seven-year sentence for a 1976 assassination in Washington.
Retired General Manuel Contreras, 72, served his sentence for the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a prominent foe of the former military regime of General Augusto Pinochet.
He has been placed under house arrest and transferred to a home next to a military installation in the Andes foothills. He is expected to go free soon.
Although the sentence has been completed, Contreras was not released because he faces charges in seven other political killings attributed to DINA. Because of his age and poor health, he has been allowed to remain under house arrest instead of prison.
The judge handling the cases against Contreras, Juan Guzman, ruled that the retired general should be freed from the Punta de Peuco prison just north of Santiago and remain at liberty during his trial if the Santiago Court of Appeals permits.
Letelier and an American aide, Ronni Moffit, were killed when a bomb blew up the car they were riding in in downtown Washington.
Investigators traced the killing to DINA, the feared secret police under former dictator Augusto Pinochet.
When civilian rule was restored here in 1990, the Letelier case was reopened and Contreras was sentenced to seven years in prison.
