[JURIST] Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] can stand trial for an alleged campaign of abduction and murder of political opponents during his leadership, Chile's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The ruling was the third by the court stripping Pinochet of the immunity from prosecution customarily granted to former presidents of the country. Prosecutors investigating Operation Colombo, a government campaign in the mid-1970s against leftists, have sought to charge the 89-year-old former leader with the murder of 15 political opponents. An appeals court ruled earlier this summer that Pinochet could be prosecuted, but he appealed the ruling. Although two other major human rights cases [BBC timeline] were brought against Pinochet, both stalled when courts ruled that he was not healthy enough to stand trial. Reuters has more.

Previously on JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Chile high court to hear Pinochet immunity appeal
• Chilean court upholds tax fraud charges against Pinochet wife, son
• Pinochet wife and son charged as accomplices in tax fraud
• Chilean appeals court says Pinochet able to stand trial for killingsPinochet stripped of immunity for human rights abuses