MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean court finds naval officers guilty of abduction of Anglo-Chilean priest

Michael Woodward worked in the poor districts of Valparaiso and is believed to have been killed at the Esmeralda, Chilean navy’s training vessel

Chilean court has found two ex-navy officers guilty of the abduction of Anglo-Chilean priest Michael Woodward. The left-wing priest disappeared shortly after the coup that brought Gen Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973 and his body has never been found.

Mr Woodward, born in Chile and raised in the UK, is thought to have been kidnapped, tortured and killed.

The court in Valparaiso gave both men three-year sentences, but said they could serve them under house arrest.

The convictions of Jose Manuel Garcia Yeres and Hector Palomino Lopez fell far short of what prosecutors were seeking, reports the BBC's Gideon Long in Chile.

Another six former naval officers were acquitted by the court.

The state was also sentenced to pay reparations of more than $100m (£65m) to the victim's family that have been seeking justice for 40 years.

Michael Woodward worked with the poor in the port city of Valparaiso.

He was arrested days after the military coup and tortured before being taken on board the ship, Esmeralda, where he was killed, investigators say. His body is thought to have been taken to the Naval Hospital, but the remains were never found.

The episode became one of the most emblematic of the Pinochet-era human rights cases.