MADRID (CNN) -- A Spanish judge brought formal charges Thursday against ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, accusing the 83-year-old retired general of crimes against humanity.

The indictment holds Pinochet responsible for the deaths or disappearances of more than 3,000 people -- including Spaniards -- while his military government ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. Judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered Pinochet's arrest, also sought to freeze his assets worldwide.

Garzon issued the 285-page indictment just one day after British Home Secretary Jack Straw approved extradition proceedings against Pinochet, who has been detained in London since mid-October.

Pinochet was to make his first court appearance Friday before a British magistrate. Garzon, nicknamed "Superjudge" for his penchant for high-profile cases, had rushed to complete the indictment to provide legal underpinnings for his campaign to bring Pinochet to trial in Spain.

The judge requested a freeze on Pinochet's bank accounts and other assets worldwide to prevent the ex-dictator and his family from hiding funds that might be needed to pay fines or legal damages, Reuters reported.

In his extradition request, Garzon accused the general of masterminding a multinational "criminal organization" that waged a campaign of genocide during his iron-handed rule.

Pinochet faces the prospect of a long stay in Britain fighting extradition, with some lawyers estimating the legal wrangling could drag on for as much as two years. He has been staying in a luxury mansion west of London under police guard as his lawyers consider whether to appeal the ruling.

Chile recalled its ambassador from London to protest Wednesday's decision to let extradition proceed, while in Santiago, pro-Pinochet demonstrators set fire to the Union Jack outside the British Embassy. Police used water cannon to break up the protest and made several arrests.

Professor Fernando Barros, one of the lawyers coordinating the campaign to free Pinochet, said an appeal would focus on the question of where the general should face trial.

"The main problem is not if he must be judged. I think everyone agrees he must be judged. But this should take place in Chile. No one is authorized to make a judgment about our democracy, our institutions which have been working for 200 years," Barros said.

Human rights activists say the prospects of a trial in Chile are remote, because Pinochet granted himself and other top officers amnesty in 1978. Some private prosecutions against Pinochet have stalled in the Chilean courts.

Reuters contributed to this report.