judicial

Murder charge filed

The Fiscalía Primera Superior has issued an indictment against Armando Contreras, a former colonel in the National Guard, for the 1969 murder of lawyer Rubén Miró.

Contreras, 75, has not been arrested because of his age.

The case is one of 100 that was examined by the Comisión de la Verdad. It was set up to investigate crimes committed during the military dictatorship. These cases were reopened by a Supreme Court decision in 2004.

Sources within the Ministerio Público (MP) said that Contreras was implicated in the murder by statements made by other members of the National Guard who were interviewed as part of the investigation.

Miró was a critic of the administration of Omar Torrijos. He was shot to death on New Year's Eve in 1969, and his body was found on a road leading to Chepo.

Gabriel Miró, Rubén Miró's son, said he hopes that the case will eventually be tried and that justice is done in the case.

Investigations by the Comisión de la Verdad have resulted in one criminal conviction against a former soldier. That case involved Colonel Ricardo Garibaldo, who was convicted of murdering Heliodoro Portugal in 1970.

Colonel Cecilio Fischer and sergeants Ángel Araúz, José Villarreal and Pedro Troya have been indicted for crimes committed during the military regime, but they have not been prosecuted.