Previous entry: Kenneth Dyers: Sect leader accused of assaulting girl, 12
Next entry: Madonna: Jesus Wouldn’t Mind My Stunt
Related
Advertisements *
Advertise Here *
Elsewhere
Subscribe: RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Subscribe: Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Most Popular
- Attorney stymied by anti-polygamy activist’s TV demand
- Man killed at Hollywood Scientology center had made prior threats, police say
- Hate incidents in U.S. surge
- Five leaders of Muslim charity convicted in terrorism financing trial
- Swordsman Had Threatened Scientology Before
- Netherlands will extend burqa ban to universities
- California county OKs limits on picketing in response to anti-Scientology protests
- AUM Shinrikyo bankruptcy procedures to end, victims get 40% of compensation
- Mercy Ministries exorcism books leaked
- 8 new charges filed against jailed Tony Alamo
Chile jails leader of secretive colony for 20 years
More articles on this topic: Colonia DignidadSANTIAGO — The leader of a now-dismantled colony founded by German immigrants in southern Chile was convicted of sexually abusing 25 children and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Judge Hernan Gonzalez also ordered Paul Schaefer, 84, on Wednesday to pay more than $1.4-million to 11 of the children whose families filed a civil suit against the former leader of Colonia Dignidad, or ‘Dignity Colony.’
The colony, about 350 kilometres south of Santiago, was founded by Mr. Schaefer and other German immigrants in the early 1960s and developed into a prosperous farming operation. It also had a hospital and school offering free services to poor families in the area.
Its leaders, however, were accused of serious human rights abuses against the more than 300 residents in the enclave, and later of allowing secret police during the 1973-90 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet to use the colony as a detention, torture and execution centre.
Mr. Schaefer and other colony leaders rejected the accusations, calling them part of a communist-inspired smear campaign. His lawyers were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
A series of investigations after civilian rule was restored found evidence that several people were arrested and taken there, including American mathematician Boris Weisfeiler, missing since 1985. At least 18 people remain under indictment over human rights abuses at the enclave, including top commanders of Gen. Pinochet’s secret police, Mr. Schaefer and other former colony leaders.
Authorities have gradually dismantled the colony since Gen. Pinochet stepped down, but a number of residents continue to live on the sprawling farm. Others have returned to Germany.
In a letter published in December, former colony members who still live there admitted that ’serious abuses’ occurred in the secretive enclave during Gen. Pinochet’s rule and asked for forgiveness from Chileans. They said Mr. Schaefer was responsible, because ‘he allowed our villa to be used for the detention and repression of people persecuted’ by the Pinochet regime.
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
Share, Blog, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
Previous entry: Kenneth Dyers: Sect leader accused of assaulting girl, 12 Next entry: Madonna: Jesus Wouldn’t Mind My Stunt
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
