Chilean judge sentences 6 people in ex-president's death

Six people were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison Wednesday for the 1982 death of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva, marking a historic ruling in the highest profile murder case from Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

Judge Alejandro Madrid ruled that Frei Montalva was poisoned to death with “toxic substances” that were gradually introduced into his body while he was hospitalized at a private clinic.

The six people were sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for carrying out, covering up and serving as accomplices in the crime. They include Frei Montalva’s driver, doctors and former agents of Pinochet.

Frei Montalva was succeeded by Salvador Allende as president. When he died at age 71, he was becoming an opposition force against Pinochet, who began his 17-year dictatorship by ousting Allende in a 1973 coup.

According to an official report, 40,018 people were imprisoned, tortured or slain during the dictatorship. Chile’s government estimates that of those, 3,095 were killed, including about 1,200 who were forcibly disappeared.