SANTIAGO (AFP).- The judge examining the cause of death of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda has ordered his remains be returned to their resting place after being exhumed for the investigation.

Authorities long said the poet died aged 69 in 1973 of prostate cancer, but his former driver in 2011 said that Neruda could have been poisoned and asked the court to investigate.

The driver was concerned by allegations that when in hospital a doctor injected Neruda in the chest, and that the poet then died hours before he was to travel to Mexico to rally Chilean opposition there against Augusto Pinochet's military rule.

The remains of the 1971 Nobel winner were taken from the house in Isla Negra, now a museum, in April 2013.

But in November that year forensics experts said they found no evidence Neruda had been poisoned, although the investigation was not formally ended and continues to this day.

Judge Mario Carroza ordered the remains restored to their resting place at Isla Negra on April 8 after all testing has been completed.

Some 3,200 people died and 38,000 were tortured under Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, which also developed and used chemical weapons, according to official data and reports. 





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