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Chilean Judge Orders to Arrest, Try Pinochet
Chilean judge Juan Guzman indicted December 1 the arrest and trial of former President Augusto Pinochet on charges of kidnappings and the disappearance of 19 prisoners during his military regime between 1973-1990.
The judge, who is in charge of 183 accusations against Pinochet, took the decision before medical examinations are carried out on the retired 85-year-old general.
The resolution came days after Pinochet apologized for the political violence in Chile during his rule.
Pinochet's lawyers have been trying to keep him from going to trial on the excuse of his poor health. Guzman has ordered psychiatric and physical tests, and he will decide according to the pending results whether or not Pinochet goes on trial.
Guzman said he also ordered the former strongman be placed under house arrest.
Plaintiff Jose Galeano said Guzman's decision makes it possible to investigate Pinochet as co-author in the deaths of 77 individuals in the hands of the so-called Caravan of Death, which refers to a flying death squad led by military officers to search jails nationwide for suspected opponents to be executed in the first weeks after a September 1973 coup led by Pinochet.
The attorney said in the process Pinochet will be investigated on other two cases.
Pinochet had been kept under house arrest in London since October 1998 until he was freed in March because of health problems and returned to Chile.
Along with Pinochet's indictment and arrest order, Guzman extended accusations from kidnappings to homicides to other former members of the armed forces within the same case. They are Gen. Sergio Arellano
Stark, Brigadier Gen. Pedro Espinoza, Col. Sergio Arredondo, Col. Marcelo Moren Brito, Maj. Armando Fernandez Larios and former Copiapo Attorney General.
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