July 9, 2001
A Santiago Appeals court on Monday ruled to suspend indefinitely the case against former dictator Augusto Pinochet, determining the 85-year- old ailing ex-general was unfit to stand trial on charges of accessory to murder.
Following is a chronology of the rise and fall of the man who ruled Chile with an iron fist for almost 17 years and has been accused of grave human rights violations.
1973:
Sept 11: Pinochet leads a military coup in which Socialist President Salvador Allende dies.
In the following years thousands of people were killed or disappeared at the hands of Pinochet's political police, while tens of thousands of Chileans flee their country. Thousands of people were arrested, parliament was closed, a state of siege was declared and thousands of leftists and others were arrested.
1988:
Aug 30: The armed forces name Pinochet as candidate to the presidency in a plebiscite to be held five weeks later.
Oct 5: Fifty-five percent of voters reject the proposal that Pinochet should stay in power.
1989:
Dec 14: The leader of the Christian Democratic opposition, Patricio Aylwin wins the presidential election that puts an end to almost 17 years of dictatorship.
1994:
Dec 11: Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei is elected president to lead the second consecutive government of the center-left Concertacion alliance.
1998:
March 10: Pinochet resigns as head of the armed forces after 25 years.
March 11: Pinochet takes up the post of senator-for-life guaranteed to ex-presidents and ex-generals under a constitution drawn up during his dictatorship.
Sept 21: Pinochet travels to Europe on a private visit.
Oct 9: Pinochet is operated on in a London clinic after suffering back pain.
Oct 16: As Pinochet awakens in his hospital bed, Scotland Yard agents hand him a Spanish arrest warrant. The former dictator is detained in his hospital room.
Oct 17: The Chilean Foreign Ministry protests the detention, saying Pinochet enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
Oct 20: The British Foreign Office does not recognize Pinochet's immunity.
Nov 6: Spain requests Pinochet's extradition. Chile recalls its ambassador in Madrid.
Nov 25: The House of Lords' magistrates reject Pinochet's claim to immunity.
Dec 10: Pinochet's lawyers contest the court's ruling, saying one of the judges is linked to Amnesty International.
Dec 11: Pinochet appears before the Bow Street Magistrate's Court, at the start of his extradition hearing.
Dec 17: The court accepts the defense argument and annuls the Nov 25 ruling.
1999:
March 24: The House of Lords does not recognize Pinochet's full immunity and rules there are grounds to study the extradition request.
Apr 15: Britain's Home Office Secretary Jack Straw says extradition proceedings may go ahead.
Aug 26: For the sixth time since he arrived in England, Pinochet, who now lives in a mansion just outside London, is taken to a clinic to undergo medical tests.
Sept 14: Spain rejects a Chilean request that the Pinochet case be taken to an international arbitration court.
Oct 8: Magistrate Ronald Bartle upholds Spain's request for Pinochet's extradition to face charges of torture and conspiracy to torture dating from the last 14 months of his military regime.
Oct 14: Chile asks Britain to free Pinochet on humanitarian grounds, citing his deteriorating health.
Nov 25: Pinochet turns 84.
Dec 3: The High Court sets the appeal against extradition to March 20.
2000
Jan 11: Britain announces it wants to free Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet for health reasons. The surprise announcement -- although it is not a final ruling -- follows independent medical tests carried out on the general.
Feb 16: The medical report, which is leaked to the media, concludes that Pinochet is suffering from a deteriorating brain condition and would be unable to understand questions at a trial.
March 2: Straw releases Pinochet after 503 days in detention.
March 3: Pinochet is welcomed at Santiago airport by top military officials.
March 6: Chilean Judge Juan Guzman asks the Santiago Appeals Court to strip Pinochet of the parliamentary immunity he enjoys as senator-for- life so he can stand trial for human rights abuses.
March 11: Ricardo Lagos is inaugurated as president, becoming Chile's second Socialist head of state since Salvador Allende, who died on September 11, 1973, during a military coup led by Pinochet.
April 18: The Santiago Appeals Court officially announces its decision to remove Pinochet's immunity.
August 8: The Supreme Court confirms the removal of Pinochet's immunity.
Sept 25: Judge Guzman orders a mental assessment of Pinochet's fitness to stand trial. Pinochet appeals two days later.
Oct 27: Argentina seeks Pinochet's extradition in connection with the 1974 murder of Carlos Prats, an Argentine general, in Buenos Aires.
Dec 1: Pinochet orders the house arrest of Pinochet and charges him with masterminding the 1973 "Caravan of Death," in which 75 political opponents of Pinichet were murdered.
Dec 11: Pinochet wins an appeal to overturn the arrest warrant and charges on the grounds that he was not properly interrogated concerning the charges.
Dec 20: The Supreme Court reaffirms the lower court decision.
2001
Jan 7: Pinochet refuses to appear for medical tests to determine whether he is fit enough to stand trial.
Jan 8: Judge Guzman fixes new tests.
Jan 18: Doctors who examined Pinochet say he is suffering from "mild to moderate dementia" but agree he is fit to stand trial.
Jan 23: Guzman interrogates Pinochet who asserts his innocence of charges of kidnapping and murder in connection with the "Caravan of Death," a military operation to eliminate Pinochet opponents.
Jan 26: Retired general Joaquin Lagos said victims of the Caravan of Death were brutally tortured before they were put to death.
Jan 26: Pinochet is treated in hospital for a mild stroke.
Jan 29: Guzman issues a warrant for Pinochet's house arrest and charges him with 57 counts of murder and 18 counts of kidnapping.
Jan 30: Pinochet begins his house arrest at his seaside summer home in Bucalemu, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Santiago.
February 7: A document apparently linking Pinochet to the campaign to eliminate opposition to his rule and justifying the execution without trial of Eugenio Ruiz-Tagle Orrego is published.
February 28: The number of charges filed against Pinochet swells to 241.
March 8: The Santiago Appeals Court rules Pinochet must stand trial to face murder and kidnapping charges related to the "Caravan of Death."
March 12: Pinochet, under house arrest for nearing on six weeks, is released on two million-peso (3,400-dollar) bail by Guzman. The Appeals Court upholds the decision.
April 1: Guzman orders Pinochet booked, requiring his fingerprints and mug shots be taken by police. The process is delayed several times over the course of the next several months.
June 14: A discreet booking of the former general using archival information is declared moot, because doctors impeded court officials from having him submit to fingerprinting and photographing.
June 20: Guzman again agrees to a postponement of the booking of the former general, whose health continues to deteriorate.
July 7: Pinochet returns home after a six-day stay in the hospital for hypertension and diabetes-related treatments.
July 9: The Santiago Appeals Court rules Pinochet is unfit to stand trial as an accessory to 75 cases of politically motivated kidnapping and murder in 1973. The Sixth Tribunal suspends the charges indefinitely, a victory for defense attorneys who sought to have the case dropped because of the former strongman's continued failing health.
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