Augusto Pinochet (center) enters a San Diego hospital.

The ruling cleared the way for Pinochet to be tried on the latest human rights abuse charges stemming from his 1973-1990 rule.

The ruling upheld only the legality of the historic Dec. 13 indictment and house arrest ordered by Judge Juan Guzman.

Guzman charged Pinochet with nine kidnappings and one homicide in the so-called Operation Condor, a joint plan by the dictatorships that ruled several South American nations in the 1970s and 1980s to suppress dissent.

Seven of the kidnapping victims were seized in Argentina, one in Paraguay and one in Bolivia while one man was killed in Chile, according to the charges filed by Guzman.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 15, 2005
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