Post date: Sep 28, 2013 8:42:59 PM
Former Pinochet-era military commander found dead ahead of scheduled prison transfer to no-frills facility.
SANTIAGO, CHILE (SEPTEMBER 28, 2013) (TVN) - Former Pinochet-era military commander Odlanier Mena who was serving time for human rights violations committed during the notorious 'Death Caravan' was found dead in his family home from an apparent suicide on Saturday (September 28) ahead of his prison transfer.
Mena was serving time in the Penitenciario Cordillera in Santiago, a facility where 10 former agents of dictator Augusto Pinochet are serving sentences for human rights violations and enjoy preferential conditions and benefits compared to inmates in other prisons in the South American nation.On Thursday (Septmeber 26), President Sebastian Pinera ordered the prison to be shutdown amid public anger over their relatively comfortable conditions. The prisoners are to be transferred to the Punta Peuco facility.
Of the 10 agents in Penitenciario Cordillera, Mena was the only one who was allowed weekend furloughs to his family's home.
Mena was the commander-in-chief of the Rancagua regiment in Arica at the time of the bloody coup that ushered in Pinochet's iron-fisted 17-year rule.
The former commander was one of the leaders of the 'Death Caravan' during which three Socialist party leaders - Oscar Ripoll Codoceo, Manuel Donoso and Julio Valenzuela - were killed in October 1973.
In 2007, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. That sentenced was reduced to six years in 2008 and he began serving his time in 2009.
Manuel Contreras, former chief of Pinochet's notorious DINA secret police, is among the former agents serving time in the Penitenciario Cordillera where other former military officers and collaborators of the dictatorship are being held.
The 10 inmates live in five cabins, each equipped with a private bathroom, can play tennis for two hours a day and are in the process of getting a personal trainer, according to public documents from a recent court-ordered visit to the facility.
Under Pinochet's 17-year dictatorship, over 3,000 people were killed or forcibly disappeared, while another 28,000 were tortured, including ex-President Michelle Bachelet, who is the front-runner to win the presidency later this year.