Chile's Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling Tuesday that will force ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet to stand trial in more than 150 civil lawsuits blaming him for the bloodletting that occurred under his 17-year regime.
The 20 judges of the Supreme Court have been reviewing a lower court ruling earlier this year that deprived Pinochet of the immunity from prosecution he was entitled to as a "senator for life."
The high court echoed a decision of the Santiago Appellate Court one week ago, when in a 11 votes to nine votes decision they ruled out new medical tests for Pinochet.
Pinochet's lawyers had requested the tests in a bid to prove their 84-year-old client is too weak and infirm to stand trial.
Court experts said the Supreme Court ruling will take several hours to be announced, as each judge will express arguments upholding or rejecting the lower court ruling.
However, should any member of the court request additional time to make up their mind the ruling could be postponed to next week or even to mid-August, the experts said.
The ruling will culminate attempts by Pinochet's foes to have him stand trial. Their bid began in earnest in October 1998 when he was put under house arrest in London, under an extradition request from a Spanish judge.
Britain ruled out extraditing Pinochet, deeming him too feeble to stand trial. He returned in Chile in March only to be hounded by the victims of his past regime who want him to pay for his alleged crimes.
If the Supreme Court upholds the previous decision on immunity, Pinochet may stand trial in 154 civil lawsuits filed by relatives of some of the more than 3,000 people who were killed or went missing during his 17-year dictatorship that ended in 1990 - SANTIAGO (AFP)
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