Funeral speech taken as ‘serious offence’ by Chile’s president

14 Dec, 2006 14:33 / Updated 17 years ago

Captain Augusto Pinochet Molina has been dismissed from the Chilean army after delivering a controversial funeral speech. General Pinochet's grandson defended his relative's 1973 coup.

He made an emotional speech which some of the country’s leadership believe to be a highly politicised address. As a captain in the army, he is banned from making political statements in uniform.President Michelle Bachelet, who was tortured under Pinochet’s rule, said the comments were an extremely serious offence.