Gen Pinochet 'fit to stand trial'

Pinochet has so far avoided trial because of ill health

Chile's ex-leader, Augusto Pinochet, is fit to stand trial on human rights charges, a prosecutor has said.

Hernan Quezada said court-appointed psychiatrists concluded Gen Pinochet "simulated" to exaggerate his mental health problems.

Gen Pinochet, who no longer has legal immunity, can now be indicted over the deaths of dissidents during his regime.

He has so far avoided trial on several charges including fraud and tax evasion because of ill health.

Transcripts have also emerged of General Pinochet's answers during a recent interrogation.

He is quoted as dedicating everything he did during military rule to God and saying that he did not believe there had been any excesses.

Mild dementia

Mr Quezada, who represents families of human rights victims, said doctors believed "Pinochet simulated, trying to make the symptoms of his condition appear worse than they really are".

PINOCHET TIMELINE 1970: Salvador Allende elected president Aug 1973: Allende appoints Pinochet army commander-in-chief Sept 1973: Pinochet seizes power in coup 1988: Pinochet loses referendum on rule; elections follow and he leaves office in 1990 1998: Arrested in London on Spanish warrant 2000: Freed on medical grounds Case timeline

Psychiatrists, neurologists and psychologists examined Gen Pinochet in late October to determine whether he can stand trial over the killing of political opponents.

He said the experts agreed the 89-year-old suffered from mild dementia, but that it was not severe enough to make him unfit to stand trial.

"The examinations prove conclusively that from a psychiatric standpoint, Pinochet is a normal person who is capable of withstanding a judicial process," Mr Quezada told Reuters news agency.

Judge Victor Montiglio is investigating the former military leader's alleged role in Operation Colombo, in which 119 leftists died in 1975.

The Supreme Court has lifted Gen Pinochet's immunity from prosecution in other cases but later found him unfit to stand trial on medical grounds.

'God's will'

In the transcripts of a recent interrogation, the former military ruler told a judge he did not believe there had been excesses during his 17-year regime.

"Everything I did, all my actions, all of the problems I had I dedicate to God and to Chile, because I kept Chile from becoming Communist," he said.

"It was God's will. He will pardon me if I committed excesses, but I don't think I did."

More than 3,000 people died in political violence during Gen Pinochet's 1973-1990 regime.

His spokesmen were not available to respond to the findings and his defence team declined to comment, according to Reuters.