When the police went to his house to take him to jail, he took a firearm with him.
Santiago, Chile:
A retired Chilean general committed suicide on Tuesday before he could be jailed for the 1973 murder of beloved folk singer Victor Jara in the wake of a military coup that installed dictator Augusto Pinochet, the attorney general’s office said.
Hernan Chacon, 85, was one of seven former soldiers whose prison sentences were upheld on appeal Monday.
When police went to his home to take him to jail, “he picked up a firearm and fired a shot that caused his death,” prosecutor Claudio Suazo told reporters.
The 40-year-old singer Jara was arrested the day after the September 11, 1973, CIA-backed coup that overthrew Salvador Allende.
His body was found days later, riddled with 44 bullets. He was held in a sports stadium along with some 5,000 other political prisoners, where he was interrogated, tortured and killed.
Among other horrors, the fingers of the singer-guitarist were crushed – broken by rifle butts and boots.
Jara was a member of the Chilean Communist Party and a staunch supporter of the People’s Unity coalition that supported Marxist President Allende, who came to power by popular vote in 1970.
The body of a fellow inmate, Littre Quiroga, 33 – director of the national prisons and member of the Communist Party – was found with signs of torture near that of Jara and three other political prisoners.
Monday’s ruling confirmed sentences of 15 years for the murders of Jara and Littre and an additional 10 years for their kidnapping, for Chacon and five other ex-army officials.
Another former soldier was sentenced to eight years for his role in covering up the crimes.
A pacifist singer whose lyrics spoke of love and social protest, Jara became an icon of Latin American popular music with songs like “The Right to Live in Peace.”
He inspired musicians from U2 to Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to him at a concert in Santiago in 2013.
Pinochet ruled Chile until 1990 and died in 2006 without ever being convicted of the crimes committed by his regime, which is believed to have killed some 3,200 leftist activists and other suspected opponents.
A few days before the anniversary of the coup, the Supreme Court on Tuesday posthumously awarded the title of lawyer to eight people killed under Pinochet — including Allende’s former interior secretary Jose Toha.
His daughter and current Secretary of the Interior, Carolina Toha, said the symbolic gesture was an “act of justice” and an important demonstration of “reparative efforts” by state institutions.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
