CHILE:A fugitive former general from the Pinochet regime has been captured, the Chilean authorities report. Raul Iturriaga Neumann (69) was arrested on Thursday in an apartment in the resort town of Vina del Mar on Chile's Pacific coast, officials said.
Once a high-ranking figure in the military's feared intelligence service, Iturriaga is one of the best-known convicted human-rights abusers from the dictatorship of the late Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. His case became a focus for right-wing discontent with human rights prosecutions.
Iturriaga was a former commander at a clandestine jail known as the "Sexy Blindfold" and "The Discotheque" because of the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated on blindfolded prisoners as loud music masked their screams.
The former general denied any wrongdoing and refused to surrender to authorities in June for the start of a five-year prison term in connection with the disappearance of a former political militant, Luis Dagoberto San Martin, who is presumed dead.
The government says San Martin is among the almost 3,200 people killed for political reasons during the reign of Pinochet, who had been facing human rights and corruption charges when he died last December, aged 91.
Before going on the run, Iturriaga issued a widely disseminated taped public manifesto challenging the "injustice" of the Chilean system.
The former general's denunciations were widely seen as a direct challenge to the Chilean state, which has been run democratically for the last 17 years. The Chilean government has pledged to prosecute human rights offenders from the Pinochet era.
Iturriaga's case highlighted the feelings of outrage of former military officials now facing prosecution for their roles during the dictatorship. As many as 500 former officers are in the dock for human rights violations.
Serving officers in the country's modernised armed forces have refused to side with Iturriaga, proclaiming their loyalty to the elected government and calling his trial and sentence fair.
Chile's current military and defence leadership uniformly condemned Iturriaga's flight and urged the fugitive to turn himself in.
Chilean authorities launched a major manhunt for Iturriaga, who is also wanted in neighbouring Argentina, where he is linked to the car-bomb killings of a dissident general and his wife.
It remained unclear on Thursday whether Iturriaga had received assistance from right-wing sympathisers. He was carrying a pistol when arrested but put up no resistance, officials said.
As he was being transferred to a prison near the capital, hecklers yelled "Asesino!" (Murderer!) and threw eggs at the police motorcade transporting him.
"In this case now there is tranquillity for society," said attorney Nelson Caucoto, who represents San Martin's family. Iturriaga's lawyer, Jorge Balmaceda, told reporters that his client "didn't want to comply with a sentence that he considered unjust".