Court lifts Pinochet immunity on another case

Oct 12, 2006, 17:59 GMT

Santiago - A Chilean court on Thursday lifted former dictator Augusto Pinochet's immunity in the disappearance and death of a former secret service agent.

The lifting of immunity will allow the courts to investigate whether Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973-1990, is guilty of kidnapping and illegal association in the death of the secret service biochemist Eugenio Berrios.

Special judge Alejandro Madrid requested immunity be lifted in the case in May.

According to the online edition of the daily El Mercurio, 16 of the Appellate Court's 19 members were in favour of lifting the immunity that Pinochet enjoys as a former president of the country.

Once the decision is published officially - which could take two weeks - Pinochet's defence can appeal to the Supreme Court.

Berrios specialized in creating toxins that were used to kill political rivals without leaving a visible trace.

In 1991, members of the Chilean and Uruguayan militaries kidnapped Berrios in Santiago. At the time, he was being asked to testify about the death of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier, who was killed in Washington in 1976.

Berrios' body was found with several gunshot wounds on a Uruguayan beach in 1995. He is thought to have been killed in 1993.

One of the plaintiffs in the case is the family of former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970). He died of septicemia in 1982 after a simple surgery, at a time when he was leading the opposition to Pinochet. His family suspects Berrios may have worked on the bacteria that caused the infection.

On October 4 the Supreme Court ratified the lifting of Pinochet's immunity in another case known as Villa Grimaldi after an illegal detention centre in eastern Santiago that was used by the first repressive secret police of Pinochet's regime (DINA). At least 226 people were murdered at the prison and some 4,500 others were tortured, according to official estimates.

Pinochet is currently being prosecuted in a separate case connected to secret bank accounts and for the so-called Operation Colombo, staged by the secret service DINA to cover up the killing of 119 leftists in 1974-75.