Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest on Wednesday on charges of tax evasion and corruption.
Chilean television reported that court officials served Mr Pinochet with an indictment and arrest order at his mansion in the suburbs of Santiago.
Prosecuting judge Carlos Cerda posted a £12,800 bail, which must be approved by Chile’s court of appeal.
The charges relate to Mr Pinochet’s network of overseas bank accounts in the US, UK and Gibraltar, which Chilean prosecutors believe is worth more than £13m.
"Today (he’s charged with) economic crimes, let’s hope that tomorrow it’s for the genocide that took place during 17 years of dictatorship," Lorena Pizarro, president of Agrupación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (Association of Families of the Detained and Disappeared), told reporters at the Santiago tribunal building.
The interior ministry also asked today that he be put on trial for his involvement in a 1974 episode in which his political opponents were murdered and dumped over the border in Argentina. The move comes after Mr Pinochet’s immunity from prosecution for the incident was lifted by the courts.
