Chilean judge orders detentions in priest's disappearance


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A Chilean judge is ordering the detention of 14 retired military members and four former police officials in the disappearance of the Rev. Michael Woodward during the country's dictatorship.

Friday's decision by Judge Jaime Arancibia is a shift in the case, which had been dismissed. Persistence of the family and new evidence led to it being reopened.

The detainees include two former vice admirals and four captains.

According to the judge, the priest of Chilean and British origin was detained in September 1973 at a university in the port city of Valparaiso and kept at various naval facilities, where he was tortured. His body was later delivered to a naval hospital.

More than 3,000 people were killed or disappeared during the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast