Court clears way for Pinochet trial

["F A B I O C C H I::" <eco_fabiocchi at tin.it>]

Court clears way for Pinochet trial 

Duncan Campbell 
Saturday May 29, 2004
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/chile/story/0,13755,1227434,00.html

A Chilean court has stripped General Augusto Pinochet of his immunity from 
prosecution, opening up once more the possibility of his being tried for his 
part in the human rights abuses that followed his military coup in 1973. 
The appeals court in Santiago voted by 14 to 9 to remove immunity from the man 
who led the military dictatorship that replaced President Salvador Allende and 
remained in power until 1990. 

Lawyers for the 88-year-old general may appeal to the supreme court, arguing 
that he is neither mentally nor physically well enough to stand trial. 

A medical report in 2000, after he was sent back to Chile from custody in 
Britain, suggested that he suffered from a mild form of dementia. He has a 
pacemaker, has had three mild strokes in five years and suffers from diabetes 
and arthritis. 

Gen Pinochet is being sued in connection with the deaths of political opponents 
in Operation Condor, the plan by Latin American military dictatorships to stamp 
out opposition. He is accused of knowing what was happening, despite his later 
claims that the offences were committed by junior ranks. 

Gen Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998 after a Spanish investigating 
magistrate, Baltasar Garzón, requested his extradition to face charges of 
torturing Spanish citizens during the coup. 

He spent 17 months under house arrest before extradition proceedings were 
halted on the strength of a controversial medical report which found that the 
former dictator had suffered extensive brain damage as a result of a series of 
strokes. 

Gen Pinochet returned to Chile, where further charges were also dropped on the 
grounds of illness. 

According to the Associated Press, the prosecution lawyer Francisco Bravo said 
of yesterday's decision: "We receive this with deep surprise but also with deep 
pride. We stress that what was at stake today was not Pinochet's health, but 
the principle of equality before the law _ 

"This ruling makes the relatives of the victims and the whole Chilean society 
again trust Chile's justice." 

Lorena Pizarro, head of a group of relatives of victims, said: "We are happy 
now, but we remain alert because the next step must be for the dictator to go 
to jail and pay for all the crimes for which he is responsible." 

Gen Pinochet did not appear in court for the latest hearing. His family has 
argued that he is too sick to stand trial. Last year his son Marco Antonio told 
the Guardian: "What I want is for the country to forgive, but not forget ... 

"You have to think that in 17 years a government has bad things, like the human 
rights violations, but you have many other good things." 

Of the disappearances and torture, he said: "I think there were excesses ... 
the security forces had too much independence, so when they had to react 
against the terrorists, they had to react with excess." 

Of his father's health, he said: "He has not lost his reason. He has problems 
with his memory. He can remember things that happened 50 years ago, but not 
what happened two years ago. It is like a jigsaw puzzle." 

Sofia Prats, the daughter of General Carlos Prats, who remained loyal to 
President Salvador Allende and was assassinated with his wife in Buenos Aires 
after the coup, supposedly on Gen Pinochet's orders, told the Guardian last 
year: "The most we want is that people know who were the criminals, and know 
the truth." 

Larry Birns, of the New York-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, welcomed the 
court's decision. "It's incredibly important that total sunlight is shone on 
what happened," he said. 

Many of Gen Pinochet's opponents believe that a trial may never take place. 
However, the fact that he was held in Britain for so long and has subsequently 
had to face frequent court accusations has significantly weakened his standing 
and influence in Chile.