Santiago, Chile
A Chilean judge indicted retired general Augusto Pinochet, 89, for the murder of a dissident and for nine counts of kidnapping during his 17-year dictatorship. Human rights groups say Pinochet’s regime killed thousands of opponents in the 1970s and ’80s, but Chile’s Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that he suffered from dementia and was unfit to stand trial. Judge Juan Guzman questioned Pinochet three months ago, after Pinochet gave a lucid TV interview, and decided he was mentally competent. Viviana Diaz, a human rights activist, called the ruling “a historic decision that must be celebrated by all democrats.” But Pinochet’s defense lawyer said it was a “tremendous abuse” of Pinochet’s “human rights” and mounted an appeal.
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