Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet told a judge his former security chief was to blame for one of the most notorious cases of human rights abuses during his 1973-90 rule.

A Chilean appeals court upheld a life sentence for the head of the secret police under former dictator General Augusto Pinochet who was convicted of killing 12 suspected urban guerrillas in 1987.

The head of the secret police under Chile's former military regime has left prison after serving a seven-year sentence for a 1976 assassination in Washington.