Pinochet grandson sacked from army

SANTIAGO – The soldier grandson of General Augusto Pinochet was discharged from the Chilean army after causing an uproar with a funeral speech denouncing judges who had tried the late dictator.

Army General Oscar Izurieta said Wednesday’s announcement that Captain Augusto Pinochet Molina, 34, had been discharged was delayed 24 hours out of “respect to his family.” Pinochet Molina defended his grandfather’s bloody 1973 coup during a speech at his funeral on Tuesday and said judges who later sought to prosecute him were seeking notoriety, not justice – a comment that brought applause from mourners and censure from the president, demonstrating yet again Chile’s deep divisions over the former military dictatorship.President Michelle Bachelet, herself once imprisoned under the dictatorship, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the soldier’s comments “an extremely serious offence” because it is an attack against a branch of government.She said she expected the army to take “necessary measures” to punish the officer, but his father, also named Augusto, said the captain was already planning to leave the army.Pinochet Molina, an army engineer, was reported to be attending a family religious service for his grandfather at a residence southwest of the Chilean capital on Wednesday.He did not comment on the controversy.Pinochet died Sunday, but the government denied the state funeral normally awarded to former presidents because he was never elected but took power by force, toppling elected Marxist President Salvador Allende in 1973.Instead, the general received military honours.During the main ceremony on Tuesday, Pinochet Molina unexpectedly appeared at the speakers podium and said Pinochet “defeated Marxism, which attempted to impose its totalitarian model,” gaining an ovation from mourners.He also criticised judges who put the ailing general under indictment or house arrest several times for deaths and torture during his 1973-90 reign.Those judges, Captain Pinochet said, “sought notoriety, not justice.”Nampa-APPinochet Molina defended his grandfather’s bloody 1973 coup during a speech at his funeral on Tuesday and said judges who later sought to prosecute him were seeking notoriety, not justice – a comment that brought applause from mourners and censure from the president, demonstrating yet again Chile’s deep divisions over the former military dictatorship.President Michelle Bachelet, herself once imprisoned under the dictatorship, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the soldier’s comments “an extremely serious offence” because it is an attack against a branch of government.She said she expected the army to take “necessary measures” to punish the officer, but his father, also named Augusto, said the captain was already planning to leave the army.Pinochet Molina, an army engineer, was reported to be attending a family religious service for his grandfather at a residence southwest of the Chilean capital on Wednesday.He did not comment on the controversy.Pinochet died Sunday, but the government denied the state funeral normally awarded to former presidents because he was never elected but took power by force, toppling elected Marxist President Salvador Allende in 1973.Instead, the general received military honours.During the main ceremony on Tuesday, Pinochet Molina unexpectedly appeared at the speakers podium and said Pinochet “defeated Marxism, which attempted to impose its totalitarian model,” gaining an ovation from mourners.He also criticised judges who put the ailing general under indictment or house arrest several times for deaths and torture during his 1973-90 reign.Those judges, Captain Pinochet said, “sought notoriety, not justice.”Nampa-AP