by Rigorous Intuition » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:43 am
<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Secret grave discovered on cult grounds</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Wed Jan 4, 2006 12:42 PM ET <br><br>SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chilean officials have discovered an old grave on the property of a secretive German cult where opponents to the nation's 17-year dictatorship may have been buried after being tortured and killed.<br><br>Chilean Judge Jorge Zepeda said on Tuesday the cult property, known as Colonia Dignidad and once run by the German citizen Paul Schaefer, was used as a center for torture and as a clandestine cemetery during the rule of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.<br><br>Pinochet ruled during an era in which an estimated 3,000 people died in political violence and some 28,000 people were tortured, according to official reports.<br><br>Zepeda said that between 10 and 12 opponents to the Pinochet regime were likely killed and buried on the property. He did not say when then grave was discovered.<br><br>Chilean officials said in June they discovered a cache of machine guns and rocket-launchers, one of the biggest weapons finds in the South American country's history, at the Colonia Dignidad.<br><br>Schafer, who led the cult of several hundred German followers in southern Chile for decades, is accused of aiding the secret police during Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship.<br><br>He fled Chile in 1997 and eluded capture until his arrest last year in Buenos Aires and is currently in custody in Santiago. <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=10752433&src=rss/oddlyEnoughNews">Reuters</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
