U.S. asks for D.I.N.A. men

Press, 22 September 1978, Page 6

U.S. asks for D.I.N.A. men

NZPA Washington i The United States has for-! mally asked Chile for the [ extradition of three secret-, police agents wanted for the 1976 assassination of a former top aide to the late President Salvador Allende. The extradition request had been expected ever since an American grand jury in Washington indicted the< three, along with five Cuban 1 exiles, seven weeks ago. They are wanted in the! slaying of Orlando Letelier.] who served as ambassador to Washington during the Allende Government and also held several Cabinet posts under Allende. Letelier was an outspoken critic of Chile’s military junta. .Letelier and a colleague. Ronni Moffitt, were killed when a bomb exploded under their car while they were driving to work in the fashionable EmbassyRow section of Washington on Septeber 21, 1976. The most prominent of the Chileans is Manuel Contreras Sepulveda, close associate of the present Chilean leader. General Pinochet, and

a former head of Chile’s se-[ jcret police, D.I.N.A. — now [disbanded. The others are' [Colonel Pedro Espinosa and. Captain Armando Fernandez. ' They and four of the Cubans are each charged' with murder of a foreign I official and two counts each [of first-degree murder and 1 murder by use of explosives.) [The fifth Cuban was charged! with lying to a grand iuryi and one count of commis-l Ision of a felony. The extradition papers in- 1 J eluding evidence to support the United States contention that the three conspired to kiP Letelier, were handed to t’ie Chilean Foreign Ministry' c n Wednesday. General Pinochet has said that extradition will not be agreed to without presentation of proof.

It is expected that the requests will be forwarded to Chile’s Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction in the case.

American officials, who requested anonymity, said that precedent suggests that the court will deliberate four to six months before handing down a decision.