Pinochet son released from jail

The older son of former dictator General Augusto Pinochet was released today after two days in prison, but authorities were continuing to investigate whether he was involved in the illegal sale of vehicles.

Prosecutor Vinko Fodic said Augusto Pinochet Hiriart will be banned from leaving the country and will have to check in every other week at the local court in Curico, 110 miles south of the capital, Santiago.

Appearing in court today, Pinochet Hiriart said he is “convinced that I will be able to prove that I am innocent. I am a man of honour”.

Pinochet Hiriart and two others are accused of using forged license plates and receiving a stolen vehicle. None of them has been indicted.

In addition, Pinochet Hiriart was accused by the prosecutor of illegal possession of a gun, after a revolver was found at his residence. The handgun was registered in the name of Pinochet’s father, but it is not legal to keep a gun in the home of someone other than the official owner, the prosecutor said.

The legal problems for Pinochet Hiriart come as his father is being investigated by the courts, the top state prosecutor and the National Tax Service for the recent disclosure that he had nearly 8 million US dollars in secret accounts at a Riggs Bank in the US from 1994 to 2002.

The probe aims at establishing the source of the funds, which family members and associates of Pinochet say may have come from donations.

Pinochet, 88, has been diagnosed with a mild case of dementia among other conditions. The health problems have led local courts to pronounce him unfit to stand trial and drop charges in a number of lawsuits stemming from human rights abuses during his 1973-90 regime.