German Fugitive Charged in Chile

Former Nazi soldier Paul Schäfer, already arrested for multiple cases of child abuse, was charged Monday in the 1976 disappearance of an opponent to the Augusto

Pinochet dictatorship, news agency AFP reported. Schäfer, who was arrested in Argentina and then expelled to Chile earlier this month after eight years on the run, was accused

in a Santiago court of involvement in the disappearance of photographer and leftist party leader Juan Maino during the repressive 1973-1990 Pinochet regime. After his arrest by Pinochet's police, Maino, 27, was taken to Colonia Dignidad, a mysterious sect founded by Schäfer, and was never seen again. Schäfer, 83, established the large, self-sufficient German colony in an isolated region south of Santiago in 1961 after fleeing Germany to escape child abuse charges. A Chilean court convicted Schäfer and 22 other sect members on child abuse charges in absentia in November 2004. Monday's charge was the second of what could become numerous cases against Schäfer in the disappearance of anti-government activists during the Pinochet years. Last week he was charged in the 1974 disappearance of leftist leader Alvaro Vallejos Villagran. He is also expected to be questioned in the 1985 disappearance of US mathematician Boris Wesfeiler. Schäfer has been held in a high security prison in Santiago since his expulsion from Argentina on March 12.