Court Upholds Pinochet Charges

Chile’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the indictment and house arrest of former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet in connection with nine kidnappings and one homicide allegedly committed during his regime, which was marked by human rights abuses.

The court’s 3-2 vote cleared the way for Pinochet to be tried on the latest abuse charges stemming from his 17-year rule that began in 1973.

Guards removed a small group of Pinochet supporters from the court as they shouted slogans interrupting the announcement of the verdict.

The ruling prompted applause and cheers from the gathered relatives of alleged victims of Pinochet’s regime.

“We are happy, the entire world is happy,” said Lorena Pizarro, who leads an association of relatives of dissidents killed during Pinochet’s rule.

“Pinochet cannot continue to live in impunity.”

Pinochet remained at his countryside residence west of Santiago, the capital, where he will stay under house arrest during the trial.

He has been there recovering from a stroke he suffered in December.

His legal team said it would ask the court for authorization to transfer Pinochet to a hospital if he had another stroke.

Tuesday’s ruling upheld the Dec. 13 indictment and house arrest ordered by Judge Juan Guzman. That order was questioned by Pinochet’s defense lawyers, who claim that their 89-year-old client is medically unfit to stand trial.

Pinochet’s lawyers will prepare for a new effort to have the charges dropped.

Guzman charged Pinochet with nine kidnappings and one homicide in the so-called Operation Condor. Under the plan, the dictatorships that ruled several South American nations in the 1970s and 1980s worked jointly to suppress dissent.

In 2002, the Supreme Court struck down another indictment Guzman filed against Pinochet in other human rights cases after doctors diagnosed the former dictator with a moderate case of dementia.

Pinochet’s lawyers say the condition has worsened.

But judges rejected those arguments after seeing Pinochet in several situations in which he appeared lucid, including an interview with a Miami-based, Spanish-language TV station.