SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Ailing former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered two legal setbacks on Friday -- he was stripped of his immunity in a fraud case and his house arrest was allowed to extend beyond the New Year's Eve, prompting his lawyer to decry his "unceasing persecution."
Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years after leading a 1973 coup, has been under house arrest since November on a series of human rights charges related to the murder and disappearance of leftists during his dictatorship.