The widow and five children of late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet were arrested yesterday over allegations he stole €19 million of public funds and hid it in foreign banks.
Judge Carlos Cerda also ordered the arrest of a further 17 people, including retired military officers from the Pinochet era, friends, associates and the former leader's personal secretary, court officials said.
The centre-left government described the arrests as a strictly judicial decision.
Pinochet grabbed power in a US-supported coup against socialist President Salvador Allende. He ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 and died in December last year at age 91 without ever being brought to trial to face embezzlement and human rights charges.
He left behind a widow, Lucia Hiriart, now 84, and five children.
The year before he died, Pinochet was charged with tax evasion linked to the estimated €19 million. He was also being investigated for fraud and embezzlement related to that money, which was frozen pending court cases.
More than 3,000 people died in political violence during the dictatorship. Some 28,000 people were tortured and hundreds of thousands of Chileans went into exile.