Chileans urged to accept Pinochet ruling

The former military ruler still has supporters in Chile

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos has called on his country to respect an appeals court ruling that former military leader Augusto Pinochet is mentally unfit to stand trial.

This is disappointing indeed, but Pinochet will remain in history as having been spared from trial because he is crazy

Prosecution lawyer Carmen Hertz

President Lagos said the Santiago Court of Appeals' three-judge panel had acted independently when it voted 2-1 on Monday to suspend the legal action against the general on health grounds.

General Pinochet, 85, has been under house arrest charged as an accessory to 75 cases of politically-motivated kidnapping and murder carried out at the beginning of his 1973-90 rule.

Technically, the process has been delayed until his condition improves, but observers say his age means the case has effectively been abandoned.

Pinochet's condition is said to be stable

"We all must accept this decision," said President Lagos, a socialist jailed by General Pinochet in 1987.

Police in Santiago later used water cannon and tear gas to break up a demonstration by several hundred opponents of the general.

BBC correspondent James Reynolds says that Juan Guzman, the judge investigating the charges against the general, had previously dismissed attempts by the defence to have him declared unfit for trial.

But, he says, the panel which made Monday's decision had declared him unfit on the basis of the same report that Judge Guzman had seen.

The general's mental condition was also cited as the reason for allowing him to return home last year from Britain, where he had been detained after a request for his extradition by a judge in Spain on similar human rights charges.

Disappointment

The general's lawyer told reporters outside the courtroom that he was very satisfied with the decision.

I hope with this ruling that our father can have a little more peace during what is left of his life

Pinochet's son, Marco Antonio

But prosecution lawyers said they would seek a reversal of the ruling.

One of them, Carmen Hertz, said: "This is disappointing indeed but Pinochet will remain in history as having been spared from trial because he is crazy."

Viviana Diaz, president of the Association of Relatives of Disappeared Persons, told Spanish radio the decision was "shameful" and "incredible".

Once again the country is being lied to; once again, justice is not being done in our country

Viviana Diaz

"Once again the country is being lied to; once again, justice is not being done in our country," she said.

Human rights lawyers in Spain who originally sought to bring General Pinochet to court said the ruling was a blow against efforts to end his impunity.

And Amnesty International spokeswoman Virginia Shoppee said it was a shame the authorities had not been able to find answers for the victims' relatives.

'Stable condition'

On Sunday, a spokesman for General Pinochet said that he was in a stable condition two days after being discharged from hospital.

More than 3,000 "disappeared" during Pinochet's rule

And the general's older son, Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, said that there was no danger of his imminent death.

General Pinochet is accused of covering up dozens of killings and abductions by an army squad known as the Caravan of Death after he came to power in a coup in 1973.

His opponents say he had a clear responsibility for the slaughter, sending a close associate to head the squad. He has repeatedly denied any responsibility.

The charges are among the more than 250 complaints filed against him for alleged human rights abuses during his 17-year rule, when more than 3,000 people were executed or disappeared presumed dead.

If convicted, he faced being sentenced to up to five years in jail.