Chile’s Supreme Court on Tuesday closed an investigation into the death of former President Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a military coup in 1973.
The court confirmed the findings of an inquest published two years ago, which said that Allende had shot himself inside his office.
The judges rejected two appeals for the investigation to be reopened as many supporters of Allende still believe he was shot dead by troops who stormed the presidential palace on September 11, 1973.
A detailed report from an international team of experts concluded that Allende had shot himself with an AKA rifle.
The gun was found between his legs and was “on automatic,” said British ballistics expert David Pryor, who took part in the investigation.
Allende’s family has always believed the suicide version for his death but his body was exhumed in 2011 to investigate the cause of death, following years of speculation.
“The report conclusions are consistent with what we already believed. When faced with extreme circumstances, he made the decision of taking his own life instead of being humiliated,” Senator Isabel Allende, daughter of the late president said in a statement.
Allende was Chile’s first left-wing president elected in 1970. He took his own life on Sep 11 when the military stormed his palace in a coup attempt by his appointed military leader General Augusto Pinochet,
