SANTIAGO, Chile -- (AP) -- The head of the secret police under Chile's former
 military regime left prison Wednesday after serving a seven-year sentence for a
 1976 assassination in Washington.

 Retired Gen. Manuel Contreras, 72, left the Punta de Peuco prison just north of
 Santiago under heavy security. He was placed under house arrest and transferred
 to a home next to a military installation in the Andes foothills. He is expected to
 go free soon.

 He served his sentence for the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a prominent foe
 of the former military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

 Letelier and an American aide, Ronni Moffit, were killed when a bomb blew up the
 car they were riding in in downtown Washington. Investigators traced the killing to
 DINA, the feared secret police under former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

 When civilian rule was restored here in 1990, the Letelier case was reopened and
 Contreras was sentenced to seven years in prison.

 Although the sentence was completed Wednesday, Contreras was not released
 because he faces charges in seven other political killings attributed to DINA.
 Because of his age and poor health, he was allowed to remain under house arrest
 instead of prison.

 The judge handling the cases against Contreras, Juan Guzman, ruled that the
 retired general be freed during his trial if the Santiago Court of Appeals permits.