A Chilean court has stripped Gen Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from prosecution, enabling the former dictator to be tried for alleged human rights abuses, newspapers reported yesterday.
Judges of Santiago's Appeals Court voted on Tuesday on whether the retired general should be shielded from prosecution as a Chilean senator. But the court kept the official result a secret.
National newspapers, citing unidentified sources, reported that the 22 judges hearing the case voted 13-9 against the former commander-in-chief of the army. Gen Pinochet (84), whose lawyers can appeal a verdict against him to Chile's Supreme Court, ruled Chile between 1973 and 1990 after overthrowing the elected socialist President Salvador Allende.
Currently he cannot face trial because he changed the constitution in 1980 to give all presidents who served at least six years the right to become a life senator, coupled with automatic immunity from prosecution.
Members of Chile's government, a centre-left alliance which has been in power since the dictator returned the country to democracy in 1990, refused yesterday to comment until the official verdict was released. Mr Ruben Ballesteros, chairman of the Santiago Appeals Court, told reporters on Tuesday that the official result would be made public in one or two weeks when each of the 22 judges has signed a written version of the verdict.
At least 3,000 people died or disappeared during Gen Pinochet's rule. Tens of thousands more Chileans fled the country.