Chile charges 5 ex-military in youth's burning death

Five former Chilean soldiers were indicted Thursday in the killing of a teenager who was burned to death after being picked up at a protest during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The indictments bring to 12 the number of former army officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers charged in the 1986 murder of Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, 19, and the attempted murder of 18-year-old Carmen Gloria Quintana.

Their arrests followed a confession by a member of the military patrol that picked up the two at an anti-Pinochet protest.

The soldier, a conscript, said the youths were beaten, doused with gasoline and set aflame. Rojas died four days later, while Quintana survived despite burns on 60 percent of her body.

The latest group of five military suspects were charged as authors of Rojas' murder and the attempted murder of Quintana, Judge Mario Carroza said.

The attack is considered one of the most notorious unresolved human rights cases of the 1973-1990 military dictatorship.

More than 3,000 people died or disappeared under the right-wing regime.