Post-mortem shows Chile's Salvador Allende killed himself

Jul 20, 2011, 4:13 GMT

Santiago - Chile's former president Salvador Allende killed himself in 1973 as participants in a military coup were capturing the presidential palace, a panel investigating his death found.

Allende's remains were exhumed two months ago for forensic scientists to clarify the circumstances of the socialist's death on September 11, 1973, amid years of speculation that the coup forces had killed the president.

His daughter, Senator Isobel Allende, said Tuesday that her father had killed himself to avoid humiliation. The investigation by Chilean and foreign experts confirmed the family's assertion.

The president shot himself during the defence of the presidential palace in Santiago, according to friends and advisers. He reportedly used an AK-47 assault rifle given to him by Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

General Augusto Pinochet, who toppled Allende's government, ruled Chile until 1990, when it reverted to democracy.

During Pinochet's rule, about 3,000 opponents of the government were killed and tens of thousands tortured or exiled. Pinochet died in 2006.

About 200 former members of the armed forces or police have been convicted of crimes committed during his rule. Around 65 are still behind bars, according to Chile's Interior Ministry.