Pinochet unfit to stand trial, court rules

General Augusto Pinochet cannot be tried on human rights charges because of his deteriorating health and mental condition, a divided court ruled yesterday, effectively bringing the 85-year-old former dictator’s legal troubles to an end.

The trial could theoretically resume if Pinochet’s health improves, but that possibility is remote and even his staunchest opponents admitted that the general will never be held legally accountable for a military operation that killed scores of political prisoners shortly after he seized power in 1973.