Mental health tests for Pinochet

General Augusto Pinochet: No trial if demented

A judge in Chile has ordered the country's former military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, to undergo medical tests to see whether he is mentally fit to stand trial for alleged human rights abuses.

We are confident that the tests will show Pinochet is fit enough to be prosecuted

Human rights lawyer Hugo Gutierrez

Judge Juan Guzman is investigating more than 170 cases against General Pinochet, 84, who was last month stripped of his immunity from prosecution.

His questioning of the general on 9 October was put back a month to allow the tests to take place.

Lawyers for the former Chilean leader, who ran the South American nation for 17 years after ousting socialist President Salvador Allende in a 1973 coup, asked Mr Guzman last month to order the medical examinations.

Under Chilean law, only those certified as demented can be excused from trial.

No immunity

General Pinochet's lawyers argue that he no longer remembers events that occurred during his 1973-1990 rule and that his age impairs him from properly assisting in his defence.

But human rights lawyer Hugo Gutierrez said: "Pinochet's own attorneys have said he has no mental disorder, so we are confident that the tests will show Pinochet is fit enough to be prosecuted."

Anti-Pinochet protesters say the general is well enough to face trial

General Pinochet has already avoided extradition from London to Spain, where a judge wanted to try him on torture charges, on the grounds that he was too ill for a trial.

He returned to Chile in March after 503 days under arrest in Britain.

Chile's Supreme Court voted last month to strip the retired general of his immunity from prosecution.

He had claimed he had protection because he was an unelected senator for life, a post he wrote into the constitution for himself in 1980.

At least 3,000 people died or disappeared while tens of thousands more fled the South American nation during the general's regime.

But General Pinochet is adored by the right wing for his economic reforms and crusade against Marxism.