Santiago, May 28 (Reuters): A Chilean appeals court has withdrawn legal immunity from former dictator Augusto Pinochet in a move that could lead to a human rights trial against him, a top court official said today.

“The withdrawal of legal immunity concerns (a case) of the disappearance of opponents of the military regime,” said Juan Gonzalez Zuniga, president of the Supreme Court.

Pinochet seized power in 1973 in a bloody coup and led the South American nation until 1990. More than 3,000 people were killed or disappeared under his rule.

Pinochet, 88, who has avoided trial on the grounds that he is mentally unfit, suffers from diabetes and dementia stemming from mild strokes.