Pinochet recovers after suffering stroke

General Augusto Pinochet has suffered a mild stroke and has stayed at a hospital for an hour for treatment.

The Santiago Army Hospital says doctors have made some changes in his treatment for diabetes and his diet.

Pinochet has returned to his heavily guarded suburban Santiago residence after the procedures.

The former dictator, 85, has suffered several strokes since his 16-month house arrest in London that ended with his extradition to Chile last March. Doctors who examined him earlier this year said he suffers from a mild dementia.

The tests were conducted at the same hospital on orders from Judge Juan Guzman to determine whether Pinochet is fit to stand trial on human rights charges.

Judge Guzman has decided Pinochet's condition allows him to stand trial, but his lawyers insist he is too ill to properly organise his defence, a situation that deprives him of his constitutional right to a just trial.

Chilean law exempts from penal responsibility only those pronounced mad or demented.

Judge Guzman indicted Pinochet last December on homicide and kidnapping charges, holding him responsible for the atrocities committed by the "Caravan of Death," a military party that executed 55 political prisoners several weeks after the 1973 coup in which Pinochet ousted Marxist President Salvador Allende.

A series of legal battles followed, and the charges were finally dropped by the Supreme Court, which ruled Pinochet should instead be charged with covering up the crimes.

According to the civilian government that succeeded Pinochet in 1990, at least 3,200 people were killed or had disappeared for political reasons during his 1973-1990 dictatorship.