" German investigators in Chile over Nazi pedophile sect, as leader remains free Talks held in ongoing investigation into Colonia Dignidad, a notorious group founded by German immigrants in the 1960s

By AFP 25 Apr 2018, 2:31 am 2 An officer stands by a large arms cache found by Chilean authorities at the commune-like Colonia Dignidad, or Dignity Colony, is displayed in Parral, Chile, some 410 kilometers (255 miles) south of Santiago, Wednesday, June, 15, 2005. (AP Photo) An officer stands by a large arms cache found by Chilean authorities at the commune-like Colonia Dignidad, or Dignity Colony, is displayed in Parral, Chile, some 410 kilometers (255 miles) south of Santiago, Wednesday, June, 15, 2005. (AP Photo) 27 shares SANTIAGO, Chile –A German delegation was in Chile on Tuesday to learn more about the ongoing investigation into Colonia Dignidad, a notorious Nazi pedophile sect founded by German immigrants in the 1960s.

Judge Mario Carroza held nearly two hours of talks with German prosecutors and representatives of the justice ministry on Monday, updating them on the Chilean probe into the sect’s leaders, judicial officials said.

The visit comes as German courts are mulling an appeal filed by Dr Hartmut Hopp, a central figure in the scandal who fled Chile in 2011 after being convicted of complicity in 16 cases of child abuse.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories FREE SIGN UP Colonia Dignidad was a strictly governed commune founded in 1961 by a group of German immigrants led by former Nazi medic Paul Schaefer, who had fled Germany to escape child abuse charges.

At the colony — a 13,000-hectare (32,000-acre) mountain resort located in an isolated region south of Santiago — residents were abused, tortured, indoctrinated and kept as virtual slaves for over three decades.

In 1996, Schaefer went on the run again — fleeing to Argentina to escape further abuse charges — but was caught in 2005 and jailed a year later for 20 years for abusing and torturing children and other residents.

Argentine police and doctors help Paul Schaffer, second right, into a military Chilean plane in Buenos Aires airport, Argentina, last minutes of Saturday, March.12 2005. Schaffer was arrested last Thursday in Buenos Aires. He was the leader of a secretive German colony in southern Chile and had also been indicted in absentia on charges of sexually abusing 26 children in Colonia Dignidad, the secretive German enclave he founded in the early 1960s in Chile. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) He was also charged with collaborating with the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), whose secret police used the colony as a place to torture opponents. He died in prison in 2010, aged 88.

The scale of the atrocities only came to light after the fall of the Pinochet regime.

“We have shared information, provided certain documents and opened the way for witnesses to testify in Germany,” Carroza told reporters.

German prosecutor Axel Stahl also requested information on Hopp, Schaefer’s right-hand man who fled Chile for Germany in 2011 to escape jail for child abuse.

Although Berlin refused a Chilean request to extradite him, in 2017, a German court upheld the sentence, saying he should serve five years behind bars in Germany.

But with an appeal under way, Hopp remains free.

Hartmut Hopp (R) seen in Germany on August 25 2011. He fled Chile in 2011 after being convicted of complicity in 16 cases of child abuse. (Samla.de/dapd via AP) Carroza said he had requested permission to question people in Germany who could have been involved or may have fresh information on Colonia Dignidad.

The German delegation will also meet with an appeal court judge involved in the case.

Link https://www.timesofisrael.com/german-investigators-in-chile-over-nazi-pedophile-sect-as-leader-remains-free/