Chilean exile wins landmark compensation for torture under Pinochet dictatorship

Leopoldo Garcia Lucero will be awarded moral damages for his forced exile from Chile nearly 40 years ago

General Augusto Pinochet

A Chilean exile has won a legal battle for compensation for his torture and forced exile during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

Leopoldo Garcia Lucero, 80, has been awarded moral damages through the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a landmark ruling.

Mr Garcia claimed he was forced into exile by the Chilean state in 1975, after being arrested for his Socialist political beliefs shortly before Gen Pinochet came to power in a coup in 1973. The army commander-in-chief remained leader until transferring power to a democratically elected president in 1990.

Lawyers now believe the ruling, the first time a court has ruled on a living survivor of human rights abuses from Pinochet's time in power, could potentially have implications for the other Chileans who fled his dictatorship.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Garcia said he was detained and tortured for over a year, which left him permanently disabled because of the damage caused to his spine.

He was expelled from Chile by ministerial decree and moved to the UK in 1975, where he has resided ever since. He claims the Chilean state should therefore compensate him, as they were responsible for his expulsion, and that his Chilean pension was not enough to cover his needs in exile.

In a news release regarding the hearing, the Court of Human Rights said it found there had been a excessive delay of 16 years in investigating Mr Garcia's case, which violated his rights and ordered Chile to complete its investigation and compensate Mr Garcia for moral damages.