Chile's former dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, remained secluded at his countryside estate on Tuesday, awaiting a court ruling on whether he will have to stay under house arrest while fighting new attempts to try him for alleged human rights violations committed during his 1973-90 regime.
Pinochet was indicted on Monday for the kidnapping of nine dissidents and the killing of one of them during his 17-year-long military rule. Judge Juan Guzman, who issued the indictment, also ordered him confined to his home.
But lawyers for the 89-year-old former ruler appealed, effectively freezing the arrest order.
On Tuesday, Guzman said he approved Pinochet's request to change his legal residence from his suburban mansion in Santiago to his countryside home, 130km southwest of the Chilean capital. He would serve out his house arrest there if Guzman's order is upheld by the Santiago Court of Appeals.
It was unclear why Pinochet sought the change in his legal residence.
"I will await the court's ruling" before deciding on the next step, Guzman said. The appeals court has no deadline to decide.
Guzman charged Pinochet as part of an investigation into Operation Condor, a joint plan by the military dictatorships that ruled in South America in the 1970s and 1980s to suppress dissent.
Pinochet's spokesman, retired General Guillermo Garin, said the former strongman was informed of the indictment, but was not given specific details about his legal troubles. His aides say this is necessary because of his ailing health.
"He didn't have any comments or rejection, which is in line with his health condition that keeps him rather separated from daily events," Garin told Radio Agricultura of Santiago.
The indictment is the third attempt to try Pinochet for alleged abuses during his rule, and appeared to set the stage for another difficult court battle for the former dictator.
In 2001 Pinochet was indicted in a different human rights case. But the Supreme Court dismissed the indictment after he was diagnosed with mild dementia. Pinochet also suffers from diabetes and arthritis, and uses a pacemaker.
Guzman, however, reversed that ruling after having court-appointed doctors examine Pinochet. He said while Pinochet's physical condition has deteriorated, "he is mentally competent to face a criminal trial in Chile." Pinochet's lawyers dispute that finding.
Also factoring into the decision, said Guzman, was an interview Pinochet gave to a Spanish-language television station in Miami last year. In that interview, Pinochet said he views himself as "a good angel," and blamed abuses on his subordinates. Guzman said Pinochet appeared mentally alert when answering the interviewer's questions.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
RSS