A Chilean court stripped General Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution today in a human rights case involving the killing of more than 100 dissidents. The ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court.
The Santiago Court of Appeals voted 11-10 to strip the 89-year-old former dictator of the legal immunity he enjoys as former president.
The decision was linked to the 1975 killing of 119 dissidents, whose bodies were found in neighbouring Argentina. Pinochet's regime claimed the dissidents were killed in clashing in Argentina involving rival groups opposed to his regime.
To support its claim, the regime cited a report in an Argentine magazine named Lea, which published details of the alleged clashes and the names of the victims.
But the only issue of the magazine to have ever been published was the one about the dissidents. Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, has repeatedly evaded prosecution due to his failing health.
AP