Pinochet loses immunity

last updated 8 January 2015

Santiago

A Chilean appeals court has revoked former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s immunity from prosecution, reviving the possibility that he could be tried for human rights abuses committed after he seized power more than 30 years ago. Judges had ruled in 2002 that Pinochet, 88, was unfit for trial because he had “progressive and incurable dementia.” But in November 2003 Pinochet gave an interview to a Miami TV station and appeared lucid. “Everything that I did,” he said, “I would do again.” Pinochet had also been spotted around town at restaurants and parties, fueling public outrage that he had been granted immunity. A prosecutor called the reversal “a miracle.”