Santiago - The Santiago Appeals Court ordered the dropping yesterday of a house arrest warrant pending against the former dictator, Mr Augusto Pinochet, for the past 11 days, said Ms Carmen Hertz, one of a team of lawyers seeking to try him.
Mr Pinochet, now 85, was ordered detained by Judge Juan Guzman 11 days ago for allegedly masterminding the "Caravan of Death", a sweep against his opponents which claimed the lives of 75 political prisoners in 1973. The three judges of the Fifth Court of Appeals granted an appeal unanimously, rendering the house arrest warrant ineffective. The court had already suspended it last Tuesday.