October 30, 2006 [LINK / comment]
Retired dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was placed under house arrest pending charges that he orchestrated torture of political prisoners. Judge Alejandro Solis explained that Pinochet is a "danger to society given the grave charges against him. But due to his age, he is 90, he has been granted house arrest." This marks the fifth time that Pinochet has been arrested in the last few years, and it is beginning to look like the criminal authorities plan to keep arresting him on new charges and then releasing him over and over again until he dies. That will avoid the agonizing divisions in Chile that would result from putting him on trial, but will it satisfy the craving for justice among those who lost loved ones under his government? There is certainly no shortage of possible criminal charges that could be filed against him. See CNN.com.