[JURIST] A Chilean appeals court has again upheld indictments against former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] for his role in the disappearance of three dissidents who went missing in the early years of his 1973-1990 regime. Pinochet has been indicted in a total of nine cases, including the twenty-six indictments that were allowed to be joined earlier this month [JURIST report], all stemming from a 1975 offensive known as Operation Colombo [Wikipedia backgrounder] which allegedly resulted in the killing of 119 political dissidents. Pinochet claims that the dissidents were killed during clashes between rival groups who opposed his regime. His lawyers are expected to appeal to Chile's Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish], arguing that Pinochet, who suffers from mild dementia, diabetes, and arthritis, is too ill to stand trial. Pinochet also has been indicted on tax evasion and corruption charges [JURIST report] stemming from multimillion-dollar bank accounts he maintained abroad. Currently, the 90-year-old retired general remains under house arrest at his mansion in a Santiago suburb. AP has more.