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Chile: U.S. Jury Finds Chilean Ex-Officer Liable for Abuses

Ruling Marks First U.S. Jury Verdict on Crimes Against Humanity

(Washington, D.C.) - In the first verdict handed down by a U.S. jury for crimes against humanity, a federal jury in Miami yesterday awarded $4 million in damages against a Chilean former army officer, marking an important breakthrough for accountability, Human Rights Watch said today.

In a ruling issued yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held Armando Fernández Larios liable for the torture and killing of Winston Cabello, a Chilean economist. The crime was committed in Copiapó, Chile, one month after the September 1973 military coup that brought to power Gen. Augusto Pinochet and extinguished democracy in Chile for 17 years.

"This is a heartening verdict that will make former torturers think twice before coming to the United States to escape justice," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.

Cabello, whose relatives live in the United States, was one of 13 political prisoners in Copiapó taken out of jail, tortured and murdered by members of an army task force on October 17, 1973. Other members of the squad, known as the "Caravan of Death," are on trial in Chile. The task force was formed on the written orders of Pinochet, who was charged in 2001 with covering up the crimes, but was excused from trial in Chile on grounds of mental health.

The civil action against Fernández was brought under the Aliens Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 and the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which allow foreign victims of serious human rights abuses committed abroad to sue the perpetrators in U.S. courts. Since the landmark Filartiga case of 1979, dozens of cases have been brought under the ATCA. Under Attorney General John Ashcroft, however, the U.S. Department of Justice has recently challenged its use in human rights cases.

"If ever there was a case to show the value of the ATCA, this is it," said Vivanco.

Fernández came to the United States in 1987 after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to covering up the 1976 assassination in Washington, D.C., of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier and his assistant,

U.S. citizen Ronni Moffitt. Under the agreement, the U.S. justice authorities undertook not to extradite him to Chile. After serving a five-month prison term, Fernández moved to Miami as a free man.

An Argentine court is currently seeking the extradition of Fernández from the United States to try him for his alleged role in the September 1974 assassination in Buenos Aires of former Chilean army commander Gen. Carlos Prats, and his wife Sofía Cuthbert. The extradition request, filed by Argentina in December 2002, is currently under review by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Now that a U.S. court has found Fernández liable for torture and murder, the Justice Department should turn the extradition request over to a court so that he can be extradited and finally brought to justice in Argentina," said Vivanco.

Fernández, who served as a member of Pinochet's secret police, the DINA, has been implicated in numerous other human rights crimes.

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