Pinochet discharged from hospital
(CNN) -- Former Chilean leader General Augusto Pinochet has been discharged from a military hospital in Santiago after suffering what was called a minor stroke, sources close to the general said.
Pinochet, who is in the advanced stages of diabetes, has suffered strokes before.
A military coup headed by Pinochet -- then commander in chief of the Chilean army -- overthrew the government of Salvador Allende, the first freely elected Marxist president in the Western Hemisphere, in 1973.
Allende was killed, and Pinochet became part of a ruling junta. In 1974, he became Chile's sole ruler.
The general ruled until 1990, when opposition candidate Patricio Aylwin won Chile's first free election since Allende's in 1970.
Pinochet has been accused of numerous human rights violations during his rule, including killings. More than 3,000 people disappeared during that time.
There have been several attempts to hold him accountable.
He was arrested in October 1998 in London, England, on a warrant issued by a Spanish judge, who charged him with genocide, terrorism and torture in the deaths and disappearance of thousands, including Spaniards, during his regime.
The judge also issued an order that same month to freeze Pinochet's assets as a guarantee that victims would receive indemnity payments if the former Chilean dictator were ever convicted in court.
After a lengthy legal battle, Britain permitted Pinochet to return to Chile in 2000 rather than face extradition to Spain on the grounds that he was unfit to stand trial.
After returning to Chile, he was charged with human rights violations and again found medically unfit to stand trial.
In 2004, a judge stripped him of the immunity he held as a former head of state. Even if he is tried now and found guilty, he is too old under Chilean law to serve time in prison.
Instead, he would serve any sentence in one of his several homes.
Journalist Alberto Pando contributed to this report.
