Chile ? A Chilean appeals court on Friday dropped corruption charges against former dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s widow and four of his children, who had been accused of misuse of state funds related to multimillion-dollar overseas bank accounts.

The Santiago Court of Appeals also dropped charges against 10 of the late dictator’s former associates and aides, court President Juan Eduardo Fuentes said.

A judge failed to question the Pinochet family and former associates before indicting them on the corruption charges, the appeals court ruled. It also ruled that the Pinochet family could not be charged with misuse of state funds because none of them was a government employee.

The indictments against two Pinochet associates were upheld, Fuentes said. Pinochet’s eldest son, Augusto, 62, also remains under inducement because he did not file an appeal.