Santiago de Chile, July 15 (Prensa Latina)-- Chilean justice today sentenced to prison five former agents of the dissolved National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) for the kidnapping of two neighborhood leaders during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

Manuel Cartes and José Flores, Communist Party militants and neighborhood representatives of the Peñalolén commune, were arrested on August 23, 1974 at their respective homes, taken to torture centers such as Cuatro Álamos and Villa Grimaldi, and their whereabouts are still unknown.

The Santiago Court of Appeals sentenced Miguel Krassnoff, César Manríquez and Pedro Espinoza to 15 years in prison as perpetrators of aggravated kidnapping.  It also sentenced Alejandro Astudillo and Pedro Araneda to 10 years and one day in prison as co-perpetrators of this crime.

Krassnoff has served more than 1,000 years in prison for numerous human rights violations.

During the Pinochet regime, more than 40,000 cases of crimes against humanity were registered in the country, including 3,200 murders and disappearances (Source: Prensa Latina).