Rabbi Angel Kreiman of Santiago. Chief Rabbi of Chile, was one of a number of major religious leaders who filed a habeas corpus motion this weekend in a court of appeals in Santiago for 131 people who disappeared after they were arrested in the months following the overthrow of the government of Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens last Sept. according to new reports reaching here.
The appeal to the court was signed by the Rev. Helmut Frenz, Lutheran Bishop of Chile and leader of the country’s Protestant church groups, Msgr. Fernando Ruiz, Auxiliary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago, and Rabbi Kreiman, members of the Committee of Cooperation for Peace in Chile, a group that legally assists detainees and workers dismissed for economic or political reasons, according to reports.
In their appeal, the clerics requested the court to ask the military authorities about the fate of the 131 detainees, where they are being held and the reasons for the detentions. The appeal also asks for the immediate release of those who are being detained without legal reasons. There was no immediate indication as to whether any of the detainees are Jews.
Rabbi Kreiman, 27, is a Conservative rabbi who came to Santiago from Buenos Aires in 1972 after three Conservative rabbis and one Orthodox rabbi left the country after Dr. Allende became President. Rabbi Kreiman, a member of the Rabbinical Assembly and the World Council of Synagogues, was instrumental in reviving synagogue attendance in Santiago by older as well as younger Jews and also aided in the maintenance of the Orthodox synagogue. Since the military Junta came to power, he and other leaders of the Jewish community have participated in helping restore the nation’s activities.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
