Pinochet 'too ill to stand trial'

A lawyer for former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet has asked a Santiago court to suspend legal proceedings against him, saying he is too ill to stand trial on human rights charges.

The hearings were due to continue today when prosecution lawyers were stating their case. A ruling may take several days.

Lawyers for 85-year-old Pinochet claim his deteriorating health prevents him from properly defending himself in a trial.

Pinochet suffers from diabetes, arthritis, carries a pacemaker and has suffered at least three mild strokes since 1998.

He was indicted last December on murder and kidnapping charges in connection with the ‘‘Caravan of Death’’, a military party that executed 75 political prisoners shortly after the 1973 coup in which Pinochet toppled Marxist President Salvador Allende.