Retired army colonel Cristián Labbé, the former bodyguard of Augusto Pinochet, was arrested on Monday and charged with conspiracy to kidnap and murder of 13 prisoners, according to The Guardian. Labbé's former employer was the Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990, during which time thousands of Chileans became desaparicidos (disappeared).
Nine other military officials were also charged, but the arrest of Labbé was a particular highlight or human rights activists, according to The Guardian. Until now, Labbé had been able to avoid punishment for deaths that occurred at a concentration camp near San Antonio in Chile, according to the BBC.
Labbé is being detained at a military base in Santiago, the country's capital city, while his lawyers appeal the arrest.
"His defense says, he says, he didn't torture anyone directly," head of the Interior Ministry's human rights department legal division Rodrigo Lledo said, according to Reuters via Yahoo. "But what has been undoubtedly established is that while people were being tortured, he walked around the place acting as a consultant to those tortures."
Journalist Javier Rebolledo was able to place Labbé at the torture camp from gathering eyewitness accounts, according to The Guardian. Labbé's former boss, Pinochet, died in 2006 before he could be brought to justice.
