SANTIAGO (AFP) -- A Chilean appeals court on Friday dropped embezzlement charges against the widow of the country's late dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, and most of their children.

Fifth Appeals Court chief justice Juan Eduardo Fuentes said the panel dropped the charges lodged on October 4 against the widow, Lucia Hiriart, four of their children, and 10 advisers.
The finding said there was no evidence the accused had knowledge of a criminal effort to embezzle public funds, and added that they had not been questioned about reserve or slush funds or their alleged management.
The prosecution said it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
""I will appeal, because in my view we witness here at work a financial network and illicit association that was formed with the purpose of making the Pinochet financial patrimony grow,"" said prosecutor Alfonso Insulza.
The ruling did not cover Augusto Pinochet Hiriart, one of the late dictator's two sons, because he did not join his family in filing an appeal.
His case, legal experts said, is now under review and will be decided in coming days.
The family of Pinochet, who ruled Chile with an iron hand from 1973 to 1990, was accused of plotting with aides to send almost 20 million dollars in public funds abroad.
""It does not appear that the accused had knowledge and the criminal desire to take public funds,"" the court said.
The family said the charges laid down by judge Carlos Cerda were baseless.
""I feel that justice prevailed because what judge Cerda did was unheard of,"" Lucia Pinochet told Television Nacional.
""I have never worked for the government and they cannot put me on trial as a public official,"" she said. Lucia Pinochet has plans to run for a seat in Congress.
Fernando Rabat, an attorney for the widow, said Cerda's charges ""did not square with the law.""
During his life, Pinochet was accused of allegedly secreting away more than 25 million dollars with the help of the Washington-based Riggs Bank.
The case came to light in 2004 when a U.S. Senate probe found hundreds of accounts controlled by Pinochet and his relatives at the bank.
Pinochet, whose rule was marked by the torture and deaths of thousands of people, died in December at the age of 91 after suffering a heart attack. He was under house arrest at the time.
His death ended years of efforts to bring him to justice for the killings of dissidents and embezzlement of state funds during his military regime. He avoided prosecution as his lawyers argued dementia hindered his ability to defend himself.