Chile: Another chance for reparations for Pinochet victims

Over the next six months, a new commission will receive testimony from victims of the 1973-1990 dictatorship of the late General Augusto Pinochet, who have not qualified for reparations since Chile's return to democracy. A bill signed into law in December by President Michelle Bachelet that created the National Institute for Human Rights also established an advisory commission to certify victims of forced disappearance, politically-motivated murder or imprisonment and torture under the dictatorship. The commission, which will be active for 12 months, will be an extension of the work of two previous commissions created after this South American country's return to democracy. The previous bodies were the 1991 National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, known as the "Rettig Commission" because it was chaired by the late lawyer Raúl Rettig, and the 2004 National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture, called the "Valech Commission" after its chair Sergio Valech, a retired bishop of Santiago.