Chile's Supreme Court voted unanimously last week to support the indictments of five former army officers who led the so-called "Caravan of Death" during the months immediately after Gen Augusto Pinochet's coup in 1973.
This ruling greatly strengthens the hand of human rights campaigners seeking an end to immunity for crimes committed by the armed forces under the dictatorship, and could open the way to the successful prosecution, in Chile, of the general himself.
Judge Juan Guzman Tapie, who is heading the lawsuits brought against Gen Pinochet in Chile, had indicted the five top former military officials after deciding the former dictator's 1978 Amnesty Law, designed to protect the armed forces from such charges, could be side-stepped. He argued that many of the cases involved disappeared people, whose remains have still not been found, and thus constituted an ongoing aggravated kidnap offence.
The Caravan of Death led by Gen Sergio Arellano Stark, one of the five suspects, allegedly toured the country under direct orders from Gen Pinochet to "speed up" military trials of left-wingers. A total of 76 people were executed by the caravan, and while Gen Arellano Stark has denied any personal guilt, he has admitted the killings took place.
The court's decision, and the categorical 5-0 vote, surprised most political analysts in Chile. The remains of 19 of the 75 executed prisoners have yet to be located, giving a basis to the "aggravated kidnapping" charges brought by Judge Guzman against the defendants. Human rights leaders hailed the court's decision to accept the aggravated kidnapping charges as a landmark ruling.
The Socialist Party (PS) has now filed suit against Gen Pinochet for the executions of the 75 prisoners. This is the first such move by a member of the governing Concertacion coalition.
The government's defence of Gen Pinochet on grounds of national sovereignty, after his October 16th arrest in London on Spanish charges of human rights violations, has been a headache for the PS. Traditionally it has been a human rights champion in opposition to the Pinochet regime. But this breaking of government ranks confirmed the socialist party's commitment to seeking justice in the cases of human rights violations, at a time when many have been talking of a possible out-of-court settlement.
Under such a deal, the military would have handed over information about the whereabouts of the remains of the disappeared in return for impunity. Now, it seems, there can be no soft landing for cases involving human rights abuses.
Nevertheless, right-wing senators reacted to the ruling last week by threatening to impeach the judges who issued the verdict.
Public pressure from the military and the opposition over the verdict prompted President Eduardo Frei to call an extraordinary meeting with his inner circle over the weekend to discuss the human rights situation.
One anonymous source in La Moneda, the presidential palace, commented: "Chile`s military will have to opt either for a horrible end to the human rights issue, or a horror that will have no end," suggesting that the military must now make extreme efforts to help locate the disappeared, or face hundreds of long and humiliating court cases.
The Supreme Court's ruling will radically reshape the human rights debate which has raged in Chile for the past 25 years. It will no doubt have a serious impact on the country's political landscape, and possibly increase the tension leading up to the December presidential elections. It may also have consequences for Gen Pinochet himself, should he ever be allowed to return to Chile.