German court asked to enforce sentence over Chile abuse

Published June 07, 2016

Prosecutors in the western town of Krefeld have asked a German court to enforce the sentencing of a former member of a secretive German colony in Chile.

A spokesman for Krefeld prosecutors' office says it wants Hartmut Hoppe to serve a five-year sentence given to him by a Chilean court in 2011 for 16 counts of aiding in the sexual abuse of children.

The crimes took place at the Colonia Dignidad enclave, where residents were physically and psychologically abused for three decades beginning in 1961.

The 72-year-old Hoppe fled to Germany before the verdict took legal effect. Germany doesn't extradite its own citizens.

Prosecutors' spokesman Axel Stahl said Tuesday that once a court approves the request it will still have to be endorsed by political authorities, likely Germany's Foreign Ministry.

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