Chile: legal concern: Proposed law would ensure impunity for perpetrators of gross human rights violations (includes correction)

On 3 August President Aylwin presented a draft law that would bring to an end all pending cases of human rights violations from the previous military government. Although this law, if approved, would accelerate the investigations by the appointment of new judges, it will also ensure the impunity of scores of violators through the application of the 1978 Amnesty Law. This law has been repeatedly used by the military courts to block investigations before the facts of a case have been fully established. There is also concern that on 4 August relatives of the “disappeared” staged a peaceful protest in Santiago against the announcement, and were harassed and detained by uniformed police (carabineros).

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