SANTIAGO, Chile—Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was put under house arrest on Monday for crimes including torture, murder and kidnapping in the years that followed his 1973 coup, a judge said.
Pinochet, 90, was placed under arrest for charges involving rights abuses at Villa Grimaldi, an infamous detention center run by the regime's secret police where thousands were tortured between 1974 and 1977, including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
"Augusto Pinochet... has been arrested as a danger to society given the grave charges against him. But due to his age, he is 90, he has been granted house arrest," said Judge Alejandro Solis, who ordered the detention.
Bachelet, Chile's first woman president, is not involved in this rights case.
Some 3,000 people were killed and another 28,000 were tortured during Chile's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Pinochet has been arrested five times on rights abuses, the first being in in 1998 in London on a warrant issued by Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon. Pinochet has been released in these cases on grounds of poor health or because bail was granted.
Courts have convicted 109 people for crimes including "disappearances," extrajudicial executions, and torture during the dictatorship.
Thirty-five former generals in the army, police, and air force have been convicted or are facing trial, according to Human Rights Watch.
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