Pinochet to Quit as Lifetime Senator to Retain Head of State Status

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 03, 2002

Pinochet to Quit as Lifetime Senator to Retain Head of State Status

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet expressed his wish to resign his lifetime seat in the senate in an apparent bid to retain his status of former head of state, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

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Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet expressed his wish to resign his lifetime seat in the senate in an apparent bid to retain his status of former head of state, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The El Mercurio daily said Pinochet discussed the decision with those closest to him after the Supreme Court upheld on Monday the verdict that found him mentally unfit to stand trial for human rights crimes during his 17-year rule.

The 86-year-old general was accused of organizing the infamous "Caravan of Death" military squad and executed 3,000 political prisoners, when he seized power in a bloody coup in 1973.

According to the report, Pinochet intended to step down from the senate so that he might keep his status as former head of state, his privileges and subsistence allowance, by resorting to the Statute of Ex-Presidents.

Pinochet's suspension of privileges, in effect since 2000, will end when the Chilean Justice Department notifies the senate of theruling.

After a 17-month detention in London on an extradition request from a Spanish court, Pinochet returned to Chile in 2000 to face charges of human rights abuses.

Pinochet suffers from dementia, an incurable mental illness, aswell as diabetes and arthritis. He has had at least three mild strokes since 1998.

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the retired general was indeed fragile and that proceedings against him should be permanently suspended.

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