SOUTH AMERICA Judge questions Pinochet on disappearances

The judge was to ask what the former leader knew about 'Operation Condor.'
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- A Chilean judge questioned Gen. Augusto Pinochet for an hour Saturday about the disappearance of leftist political opponents during his 1973-90 dictatorship.
Judge Juan Guzman, who indicted Pinochet in 2001 in a different human-rights case that was blocked by Chile's Supreme Court, did not comment when he entered or left the former leader's suburban mansion in his car.
The questioning was part of the judge's investigation into "Operation Condor," a joint campaign by dictatorships then ruling six South American nations to suppress dissent in the 1970s.
Court officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judge planned to question Pinochet on what he knew about Condor, especially his close relationship with the head of the Chilean secret service at the time.
What's in documents
According to court documents, 20 Chileans died as victims of Condor, which involved the secret services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. A report by the civilian government that succeeded Pinochet said 3,197 people died or disappeared during his regime.
The judge is expected to decide if evidence warrants indicting Pinochet for abuses under Condor, or to order medical tests to determine whether the 88-year-old retired general can stand trial.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that Pinochet was mentally and physically unfit to stand trial in the earlier case, saying he had been diagnosed with mild dementia, diabetes and arthritis and was using a heart pacemaker.
Last month, however, the court cleared the way for a possible new indictment by stripping Pinochet of immunity from prosecution he enjoyed as former president. That ruling was prompted at least in part by Pinochet giving an interview to a Miami television station in which he appeared lucid while blaming subordinates for his regime's abuses.
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