SANTIAGO, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- The recent stripping of former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet from immunity has opened the way for legal investigations by judges from other countries, a lawyer said Monday.

    The stripping of Pinochet from immunity has led to the immediate sending from Belgium of an investigation commission that will present new difficulties to the defense of the retired general, an attorney close to the Pinochet case said.

    The lawyer, as cited by daily La Nacion, said the panorama will become quite murky should the cases opened against Pinochet in other countries be not attended.

    The Chilean Supreme Court authorized on Aug. 26 the cancellation of Pinochet's immunity as former ruler of Chile.

    An adviser to Pinochet said that if the Chilean authorities allow the Belgian tribunals to proceed with the investigation, there will immediately be judges from other countries ready to start similar investigations.

    Judges from Spain, France, Sweden and Argentina have for a longtime been waiting to continue their cases against Pinochet.

    The Supreme Court ruling came in a case involving "Operation Condor" -- a plan by South American military dictatorships to eliminate leftists and quash dissent.

    Pinochet led a right-wing military regime in Chile from 1973 to1990 as the country's de facto president. He was allegedly involved in the arrest, kidnapping and disappearance of 19 people in the 1970s through "Operation Condor".

    Pinochet, who took control of Chile by ousting constitutional President Salvador Allende in 1973, faces hundreds of charges of homicide, kidnapping and torture in Chile.

    He was arrested in London in 1998 on an extradition request from Spain to face four genocide charges, but Britain eventually allowed him to return to Chile 17 months later on grounds of poor health.

    The Chilean Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that proceedings against Pinochet in the Death Caravan case should be permanently suspended, given the dictator's "progressive" and "incurable" mental insanity. Enditem