Former dictator under house arrest

Chile’s former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet has been placed under house arrest and indicted for the first time on torture charges for abuses at a secret detention centre where president Michelle Bachelet and her mother were once held, the judge handling the case reported today.

Two court officials notified Pinochet at his suburban Santiago mansion of the decision by Judge Alejandro Solis, who on Friday had charged Pinochet with one homicide, 35 kidnappings and 24 cases of torture at Villa Grimaldi, one of the most infamous detention centres in the early years of his 1973-1990 dictatorship.