CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The man accused of being a brutal dictator during his two decades of role in Chile is free. For 16 months Augusto Pinochet has been under house arrest outside London fighting extradition to four countries. But this morning, Britain's justice system cleared the way for Pinochet to leave. CNN's Nic Robertson is live with details of this late-breaking story -- Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, about three hours ago, General Pinochet left his country estate here at Wentworth, just south of London, for a drive north to Lincolnshire, to a British air force base. We understand he has just arrived at that air force base, and it is from there he will board his Chilean air force plane to fly back to Chile. He left this morning from Wentworth with a police escort, a police motorized escort, and they slipped out of the back door from the estate, because outside the front there were demonstrators gathered, only a small number but very loud. These demonstrators demonstrating against General Pinochet, claiming that he needs to stand trial, in their view, for the 3,000 people they claim died under -- during his rule in Chile. Now, we talked some of those people after they heard about the British government's ruling to release General Pinochet. They said they were not surprised but they were very angry, very disappointed. They really feel that while General Pinochet has been in Britain, really the only chance that they saw of having him stand trial for what they feel he is rightly accused of. Right now, he is waiting to board that flight. We understand it will be a 17-hour flight back to Chile. We also understand that because of the length of the flight it will have to stop a refueling. Likely, that will be in the Caribbean. I'm Nic Robertson, reporting live just outside of London, England.
Gen. Augusto Pinochet Heads Back to Chile a Free Man