head of the secret police under Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet killed himself while on weekend leave from prison, officials say.
Odlanier Mena, 87, allegedly shot himself in the head hours before he
was to be transferred to a prison he believed was not equipped to
handle his health issues, The Santiago Times reported Monday.
His daughter found his body Saturday in the service stairway of his apartment building in Santiago.
Mena was due to be transferred Monday from the Penal Cordillera,
where he had been granted many privileges, to the Penal Punta Peuco, a
facility designed to hold those convicted of human rights violations.
"He was terribly affected by the transfer situation, and the fact
that in Punta Peuco he would not receive the medical attention he
needed," said Mena's attorney, Jorge Balmaceda.
On his weekend leaves from prison, Mena was allowed to move freely
around the city, the only inmate at the prison given such a privilege.
Despite the fact he was a convicted felon, he was allowed to keep four
guns that were registered in his name, said Eastern Santiago District
Attorney Roberto Contreras.
Mena had been sentenced to six years in prison in 2008 for his role
in the death of three men in Arica during the so-called "Caravan of
Death" in which a military death squad killed 96 people.
