Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered two legal setbacks today when he was stripped of his immunity in a fraud case and had his house arrest extended beyond the New Year's Eve.
Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years after leading a 1973 coup, has been under house arrest since November on a series of human rights charges related to the murder and disappearance of leftists during his dictatorship.
A Chilean appeals court stripped Pinochet, 90, of his immunity from prosecution so he can face new charges for abuse of funds in a $27 million tax fraud case.
Judges from the Santiago Court of Appeals voted 21-3 to strip the retired general of his immunity for a second time regarding charges related to millions of dollars he allegedly hid in foreign bank accounts.
He can appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Separatly, the court said the Pinochet defense team's appeals of the house arrest order were left pending until next week.
"Unfortunately what we are seeing is an unceasing persecution against General Pinochet for events that occurred more than 30 years ago," said Pablo Rodriguez, Pinochet's lead attorney.
Chilean courts must decide on a charge-by-charge basis whether to strip Pinochet of his immunity - a privilege of former presidents.
In October, Pinochet was stripped of immunity to face other charges in the tax fraud case, including tax evasion, falsification of documents and false declarations of properties.