A court has stripped the notorious Chilean ex-dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity, opening the way for his trial for human rights abuses.

A Chilean court voted 14-9 to strip the 88-year-old former president of his immunity. Pinochet stands to be prosecuted for 108 different criminal complaints against him without the immunity that he enjoyed as former president.

Pinochet came to power in 1973 in a bloody coup. Until his ouster in 1990, more than 3,000 people were murdered or disappeared during his rule.

He was arrested Oct. 16, 1998, in a London hospital. After a long legal battle for his extradition to Spain for trial on torture charges, then home-secretary Jack Straw ruled Pinochet should not be extradited. Pinochet returned to Chile on March 2, 2000.

In Chile, attempts to prosecute Pinochet have been dismissed based on grounds he is not fit to stand trial. According to documents, Pinochet suffers from mild dementia, diabetes and arthritis, and has suffered from at least three mild strokes.

Cases Pinochet could face involved the “Caravan of Death,” where groups of military officers toured Chile to arrest, torture and execute political activists. He could also be prosecuted for the disappearance of nine left-wing activists arrested in “Operation Candor,” a state-sponsored terror network that repressed opponents of military dictatorships in South America.

Pinochet’s lawyers are expected to appeal based on medical reasons again. Trials against him can begin if the Supreme Court affirms the decision to strip his immunity.