«Transitional Justice

Chile's Pinochet stripped of immunity

Chile's Supreme Court on Friday stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity to face charges of muder, torture and other right abuses at the infamous Villa Grimaldi prison.

"He's been stripped of immunity," a court source said after the decision by a Supreme Court panel in Santiago.

The ruling means Pinochet, 90, can be charged with human rights abuses related to the Villa Grimaldi prison, where thousands of his opponents were tortured between 1974 and 1977.

Current President Michelle Bachelet and her mother were tortured there early in 1975 before going into exile.

The Supreme Court ruling on Friday involved a judicial investigation of dozens of different torture victims from Villa Grimaldi, not including the Bachelets.

"Now people who were actually held in Villa Grimaldi can testify," Sebastian Brett, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, said of the ruling.

Villa Grimaldi, at the eastern edge of the capital, was one of the main holding places for political prisoners in the early years of Pinochet's 17-year rule, which began with a 1973 coup.

Pinochet already is under indictment for human rights violations and tax evasion. Previous attempts to try him have failed after the courts dropped the cases based on Pinochet's poor health. He has been diagnosed with mild dementia, diabetes and arthritis, and he has a pacemaker. The latest tests by court-appointed doctors show Pinochet is fit to stand trial.