A Chilean judge yesterday reordered the arrest of the former dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet.
The general is charged with involvement in the kidnap and murder of left-wingers during his 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Human rights lawyers said that Judge Juan Guzman, who has been investigating Gen Pinochet for more than three years, ordered the arrest in a document filed to a Santiago court.
Judge Guzman overruled attempts by Gen Pinochet's lawyers to halt any prosecution of the 85-year-old retired general because of his frail health. Lawyers for Gen Pinochet, who remains at his coastal estate about 128 km south-west of the capital, Santiago, are expected to try to block the court order with an appeal.
Human rights activists, who believe Gen Pinochet was responsible for more than 3,000 deaths and disappearances during his authoritarian 17-year rule, hailed Judge Guzman's decision.
"Without doubt, this is a historic day," the human rights lawyer, Ms Carmen Hertz, told reporters at the packed courthouse where Judge Guzman's decision was leaked to the media. "The road to justice opens in our country."
"The result is wonderful," said the Communist Party leader, Ms Gladys Marin, whose husband was one of the victims of the Pinochet-era violence. "After so many years, our fight was not in vain."
Gen Pinochet was discharged from Santiago's Military Hospital on Saturday after being rushed to the clinic on Friday with a severe headache and a slight, transitory loss of consciousness. Doctors said he was at risk of suffering a stroke but could continue any treatment and recovery at home.
Opponents of the retired general claimed his stay in the hospital was a ploy to exaggerate his frail health and convince people he is unfit to face trial.
Judge Guzman first ordered Gen Pinochet's arrest on December 1st for his alleged involvement in the disappearance and death of more than 70 leftwingers who were victims of the so-called Death Caravan military squad which swept across Chile in the weeks after Gen Pinochet's 1973 coup.
Chile's Supreme Court blocked that arrest and told Judge Guzman he first had to interrogate Gen Pinochet and also allow psychological tests to be carried out on the general to ascertain his mental state - a right for those over 70 facing trial in Chile. If he were declared insane, he could avoid trial.
Judge Guzman complied with the Supreme Court's requirements when he questioned Gen Pinochet at his Santiago residence on Tuesday. Mental tests were carried out in mid-January.
The results of those tests have not been published but one of Gen Pinochet's doctors, Mr Sergio Ferrer, who observed the examinations, said two weeks ago that Gen Pinochet had some dementia, which included a loss of memory.
Gen Pinochet was detained in Britain in 1998 at the request of a Spanish judge who wanted to try him on torture charges. He spent 503 days under house arrest before being allowed to return home after Britain ruled he was too ill to be tried.
Gen Pinochet also has diabetes and is fitted with a pacemaker. His doctors say he suffered at least two strokes while under house arrest in Britain fighting extradition to Spain. He recovered from a bout of pneumonia late last year.