Chile's Supreme Court Approves Extradition Request for Former Colonia Dignidad Sect Leader

Chile's Supreme Court has approved the extradition request for former Colonia Dignidad sect leader and doctor Harmut Hopp. Hopp, who in 2011 fled back to Germany after being convicted of being an accomplice in the sexual abuse of minors during the 1990s, has been living in the small city of Krefeld, the New York Times reported.

The 69-year-old doctor was once a leader of Colonia Dignidad, a German sect settlement tucked in southern Chile that is said to have been used during the Gen. Augusto Pinochet dictatorship as a torture facility. According to the NY Times, the Supreme Court upheld a five-year sentence against Hopp in January on being an accomplice to Dignidad's leader, Paul Schafer, in the rape of four boys and the sexual abuse of 16 more.

Hopp was part of Schafer's inner circle as well as Colonia Dignidad's hospital director, the Times reported. According to reports, Colonia members were drugged and tortured in the hospital and several local children were never returned to family members after being hospitalized.

According to the Times, the Chilean court stated that if Germany continues to refuse Hopp's extradition, then he should serve his sentence in a German prison. Chilean publication The Santiago Times reported that it is unlikely that Germany will comply with the extradition since it does not have an extradition agreement with Chile.

The Santiago Times also reported that the German constitution forbids the extradition of German citizens to foreign countries. According to the publication, Germany's constitution, known as the Basic Law for the Republic Germany, states, "No German may be extradited to a foreign country. The law may provide otherwise for extraditions to a member state of the European union or to an international court, provided that the rule of law is observed."

Several lawsuits have been filed against Hopp in Krefeld courts by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights on behalf of former Colonia members, the NY Times reported. Many former sect members accuse the doctor of harming them during forced drugging. One lawsuit is on behalf of Elizabeth Rekas, who was abducted in 1976 and allegedly taken to Colonia Dignidad.