SANTIAGO, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Chile's former leader Augusto Pinochet, hospitalized after a heart attack on Sunday, remains in a critical but stable condition, one of the doctors caring for him told reporters on Monday.

    Pinochet underwent angioplasty on Sunday and would remain hospitalized and under observation for "at least 10 days," the doctor said.

    The angioplasty -- a surgical reparation of blood vessels leading to the heart -- had reestablished blood flow, which meant that "for the moment an open heart operation is not needed," the doctor added.

    Pinochet, who turned 91 on Nov. 25, was rushed to Santiago's military hospital at 3:00 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), after a "serious" heart attack in his Santiago home on Sunday morning.

    Pinochet has been accused of human rights abuses, fraud and corruption during his rule from 1973 to 1990 and has been under house arrest for the kidnapping and murder of two bodyguards of former left-wing president Salvador Allende in 1973.

    In 2000, Chile's Supreme Court stripped Pinochet of his presidential immunity, paving the way for a trial. But two years later, the same court dropped the charges, saying the former president was too ill to stand trial.