An appeals court has stripped former dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity today so he can face charges in a human rights case.
A court official said the judges on the Santiago Appeals Court voted 13 to five to strip Pinochet of immunity. Defence lawyers are expected to appeal.
If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling, the first torture charge against Pinochet could be filed.
Pinochet (90), has lost his immunity from prosecution - a privilege of former presidents - in several other human rights cases. Chile's courts must decide the immunity issue on a case-by-case basis before Pinochet can be formally charged with a crime.
The latest charges relate to Villa Grimaldi, the infamous detention centre run by Pinochet's secret police where thousands of people were tortured between 1974 and 1977.
Current President-elect Michelle Bachelet and her mother were tortured there early in 1975 before going into exile.
Alejandro Solis, the judge investigating Villa Grimaldi, wants to charge Pinochet with 23 cases of torture of political prisoners and 36 cases of disappearances - people who were last seen at Villa Grimaldi but whose bodies have never been found.
Mr Solis's investigation does not involve Bachelet's detention at Villa Grimaldi.
Pinochet, who took power in a 1973 military coup and ruled for 17 years, is under indictment for tax fraud and kidnapping - a charge that refers to people who disappeared in police custody and are presumed dead.
Under his regime, an estimated 3,000 people died or disappeared, while 28,000 were tortured. Dozens of military officers and former agents of the secret police have been convicted of human rights crimes, but Pinochet never has because the Supreme Court ruled in previous cases that he is too ill face trial.