Chile dictatorship's secret police chief amasses 505 years jail time

May 20, 2015 2:08 PM

SANTIAGO, May 20 (Reuters) - The former head of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's secret police, who already was serving 490 years in prison for a series of human rights violations, received an additional 15-year sentence on Wednesday.

Manuel Contreras was the head of operations at the DINA intelligence service, which ran torture centers where hundreds of people were killed.

Chile's supreme court sentenced Contreras to an additional 15 years for the murder of husband and wife Alejandro de la Barra and Ana Maria Puga on Dec. 3, 1974.

The court sentenced another four former DINA agents for the couple's murder.

An estimated 3,000 people were disappeared or kidnapped and killed during the 17-year dictatorship, and 28,000 were tortured.

Pinochet died in 2006 at the age of 91, having never faced a full trial for the crimes committed under his rule. (Reporting by Erik Lopez; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)