PINOCHET’S LAWYER INTERRORGATED IN HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATION

Judge Alejandro Solís interrogated former dictator Augusto Pinochet’s lawyer Pablo Rodríguez Saturday about information he may have concerning the disappearance of María Ramírez, a 65 year old woman who was seized while visiting her two children at the Tres Álamos detention center in 1974.

According to Óscar Castro, one of María Ramírez’ children imprisoned at the detention center, the day his mother came to visit, she was seized by a soldier and dragged out of the prison by her hair and turned over to the Directorate of National Intelligence (DINA). In Castro’s testimony to Judge Solís he claims that later, during a special visit to the prison by a group of lawyers, he asked the group what had happened to his mother. He claims that Rodríguez, a member of the group, replied, “you know, there is not much hope that she will be found alive.”

Judge Solís, who is investigating the disappearance of a number of victims, including María Ramírez, who were last seen at Villa Grimaldi, questioned Rodríguez as to how exactly he had access to information concerning detainees at the torture center. While acknowledging the visit, he denied saying anything to Castro about his mother.

Villa Grimaldi was the DINA’s most important detention and torture center. Located inside Santiago, it was used from mid-1974 onward to torture approxmitaley 5,000 political detainees. Former inmates report that among the most common techniques used to extract confessions were electrical shock, hanging, and asphyxiation by submersion in liquids or tying a bag around the inmates head.

“This is going to go down in history as my word against his,” said Castro. “When (Rodriguez) told me about my mother, I thought he showed a certain solidarity with me, like a doctor telling you that you are sick….At the time, I didn’t think it would be the kind of thing I would have to reveal 30 years later.”
Judge Solís is expected to question the two men together to help resolve differences between their stories.