A frail and ailing General Augusto Pinochet returned to Santiago this morning, after his release from a seventeen-month house arrest in the United Kingdom. Reflecting Pinochet's continuing popularity in military circles and the Army's power in Chile, his return was handled entirely by the Chilean army, which banned the media until shortly before Pinochet's plane landed. On Thursday, UK Home Secretary Jack Straw announced that, for medical reasons, Pinochet would not be extradited to Spain, where he was indicted for human rights abuses. The former dictator's health had considerably declined since his initial arrest in October 1998, and he was said to be suffering from brain damage, sparking concerns in some UK governmental circles that he might die on British soil before the extradition was resolved. While he has escaped prosecution in European courts, Pinochet still faces 59 civil lawsuits in his home country, although many observers doubt that any trial will take place. This decision has angered families of the General's victims and human rights activists, but the process has established one important legal precedent for future prosecutions of ex-dictators. In their March 1999 ruling, Britain's Law Lords determined that Pinochet was not automatically immune to prosecution for acts committed as a head of state. This reversal of the "sovereign immunity" claimed by many former dictators may pave the way to future prosecutions for human rights abuses.