Chile looks for answers after man declared dead during military
dictatorship shows up alive.

SANTIAGO, CHILE (FILE - SEPTEMBER 1973) CH 13 -
His name is on a monument to victims of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's
dictatorship, his family buried his mistakenly identified remains -- now a
Chilean court is probing how German Cofre has come back from the dead.

Cofre, a former leftist community leader reported to have been whisked
away by the military early in Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, was not seen
again -- until he returned to Chile 35 years later from neighboring Argentina,
where he has been living.

Now a judge is looking into how Cofre was erroneously declared dead,
how Chilean authorities in Argentina renewed his identity card and how his
family was paid a pension because he was on an official list of dictatorship
victims.

Cofre says he didn't know he had been declared one of around 3,000
people who died or disappeared under Pinochet's rule.

And Judge Carlos Gajardo called him 'technically dead', saying a study
would follow.

"Technically, he's dead. (Journalists asking: He has to revived,
and for that you have to analyze fingerprints?) Yes, all kinds of analysis. We
have to determine his true identity," the judge said.

Cofre's wife died in Chile last year. His children, who don't remember
him, want answers and the scope of the confusion caused some to question human
rights officials who identified victims' remains.

But human rights lawyer Hugo Gutierrez said the case is an
aberration.

"It's a rather exceptional situation and in no way does it damage
the work that's been done in human rights," he said.
Nonetheless, families of real victims of the dictatorship also want the
case cleared up.

Lorena Pizarro talked to Reuters on Wednesday (November 19) while
standing in front of the gravesite bearing Cofre's name and someone else's
remains.

"Here there is the name of a person who never disappeared, but
inside that urn is a disappeared prisoner. There's a dictatorship victim that
suffered torture, that died in absolute solitude and horror. For him and for
everyone else here, we can't accept what happened," she said.

About 200,000 people fled into exile during the Pinochet years and
among those that stayed around 3,000 were killed and 28,000 tortured.
"The disappeared prisoners were men and women that fought for a
different Chile. That is why we can't accept that someone use their names and
conditions to who-knows-what ends-- that will be decided by the courts. But
there must be an investigation here. The government has responsibilities
here," Pizarra added.

Pinochet died in 2006. He was charged but never faced a full trial for
crimes committed under his rule.