Ex-Arg. dictator Videla died after shower fall

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Preliminary autopsy results say former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla died from fractures and a hemorrhage suffered in a fall in the shower while he was serving a life sentence for human rights violations.

The 87-year-old was found dead Friday in his prison cell, five days after he fell. The preliminary report released Monday says the hemorrhage that he suffered caused a cardiac arrest.

The general led a military junta that ousted elected President Maria Estela Martinez de Peron in March 1976. The government is blamed for the deaths and disappearances of as many as 30,000 dissidents and others during its seven years in power.

Videla was convicted for offenses ranging from the deaths of 31 dissidents to the kidnapping of children born to people seized by the junta.