Pinochet posts bail
2006-01-12 10:59
Santiago - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was released on Wednesday from house arrest after paying $20 000 in bail, local media reports said.
Pinochet, 90, immediately left the Santiago residence where he had been confined for six weeks to his house on the Chilean coast.
His release came the same day that the Santiago Appeals Court agreed to Pinochet's release in a case involving human-rights abuses during his 1973-1990 dictatorship.
But the day was not filled entirely with court victories for Pinochet. The Appeals Court also lifted the general's immunity from prosecution in the case of the "Caravan of Death", the killing of 75 dissidents shortly after Pinochet took power in a 1973 coup.
Pinochet's house arrest in another case was lifted on January 2, but he remained confined to his home in an upscale part of the capital because of a second order, which was lifted on Wednesday.
The first house arrest was lifted against a bail payment of $18 000 in a case involving the murder of six government critics under the so-called Operation Colombo. In all, 119 leftist dissidents were killed during the operation.
The second case involved the killings of three other regime opponents.
Wednesday's "Caravan of Death" decision can be appealed to Chile's Supreme Court. It could lead to a retrial in a case that a court closed in 2002, saying Pinochet was mentally unfit to stand trial - one of three prosecutions against him that were dropped for that reason.
In December, Chile's highest court dismissed appeals by Pinochet's lawyers to drop the two human rights abuse trials.
Although legal proceedings have been suspended several times due to the ex-dictator's ailing health, the courts have determined his fitness to stand trial.
Thousands of people were arrested during the Pinochet years. More than 2 000 "disappeared" and at least 30 000 were tortured in prison, according to a government-sponsored committee that gathered testimony from victims in 2004.
Pinochet has also been charged with tax evasion amid allegations that he has kept up to US$27m in secret foreign bank accounts. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA