Pinochet faces chemist case trial

Gen Pinochet's immunity is judged on a case-by-case basis

Chile's former military ruler, Gen Augusto Pinochet, is to be prosecuted over the case of a murdered chemist and secret police agent, a judge has said.

Eugenio Berrios's body was found with gunshot wounds, buried on a beach in Uruguay in 1995.

Courts have stripped Gen Pinochet of his immunity in seven human rights cases dating to his 17-year rule.

He has yet to be cleared or convicted in any cases, some of which were dropped because of his ill health.

Lawyers for Gen Pinochet, 90, have argued he is too infirm to stand trial.

He has been diagnosed with minor dementia, among other ailments.

'Illegal association'

An appeals court voted 16 to two in favour of removing Gen Pinochet's immunity from prosecution in the Berrios case.

Chilean courts can only decide whether to strip his immunity on a case-by-case basis.

Gen Pinochet can appeal the ruling.

Berrios, a chemist once employed by the secret police, was suspected of involvement in the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier, a Pinochet opponent.

According to Alejandro Madrid, a judge quoted by the Associated Press news agency, Gen Pinochet was part of an "illegal association" that sent Berrios to Uruguay to prevent him from testifying in the Letelier investigation.

Berrios is believed to have eventually been murdered to prevent him from returning to Chile.

His murder is thought to have taken place after 1990, at a time when Gen Pinochet was no longer president, but still commanded the Chilean military.

Thousands of suspected political opponents of Gen Pinochet were tortured or killed during his rule.