Chile's Top Court Strips Pinochet of Immunity
By REUTERS
SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 26 - Chile's Supreme Court stripped the former dictator Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution in a notorious human rights case on Thursday, raising hopes of victims that he may finally face trial for abuses during his 17-year rule.
The ruling upheld a lower court decision in May that removed the immunity that had been granted him as a former head of state.
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| A relative of a victim
of the
dictatorship outside the courthouse where the Supreme Court was sitting.
Reuters |
The lower court said the retired general, who is 88, could be charged in connection with the disappearance of 19 leftists in the mid-1970's as part
of Operation Condor, a joint effort by South America's military dictators
to help each other wipe out dissidents.
The ruling is the latest in six years of back-and-forth court decisions in hundreds of human rights cases in which General Pinochet has been accused of ordering the secret police to kidnap, torture and kill leftists.
General Pinochet took power in a coup in 1973, and at least 3,000 leftists were killed during his rule. He has been out of office since 1990 but has remained untouchable in the courts.
Human rights lawyers say the odds are now against General Pinochet as public opinion has turned further against him after the recent discovery of secret multimillion-dollar accounts, leading to new accusations of fraud
and embezzlement.
"We're happy and we're going to keep pushing," said Lorena Pizarro, president of the association of relatives of the disappeared.
Operation Condor was the military code name for an intelligence-sharing network between Chile and other South American dictatorships in the 1970's that rights groups say aimed to eliminate dissidents throughout the region.
But General Pinochet's lawyers told the Supreme Court in hearings this week that the collaboration between countries in Operation Condor was comparable to antiterrorism efforts in Europe since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
In Chile, previous court rulings do not set precedent, so each separate case against General Pinochet winds through the system to the Supreme Court, which must rule whether to remove immunity from prosecution.
The highest court removed General Pinochet's immunity once before, in 2001, but his defense lawyers successfully argued that his mild dementia made him unfit to stand trial.
They are expected to present that defense again, which could stall a trial indefinitely.
However, human rights lawyers say making that defense will be more difficult this time because General Pinochet gave a lucid interview to a Miami television station in December. A psychiatrists' analysis of the broadcast, presented by plaintiffs, concluded that he was in good mental health.
A United States Senate committee's report in July that revealed that General Pinochet held up to $8 million in secret offshore bank accounts outraged many Chileans.
"There's a sensation that Pinochet is not as untouchable as he was before," said Juan Subercaseaux, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |
PHOTO OF PINOCHET © Agence France-Presse- Getty Images, 2003
ALSO SEE:
KISSINGER
TO THE ARGENTINE GENERALS IN 1976:
"IF THERE ARE THINGS THAT HAVE TO BE DONE, YOU
SHOULD DO THEM QUICKLY"
from the National Security Archive
Electronic Briefing Book No. 133 Edited by Carlos Osorio and Kathleen
Costar Posted August 27, 2004 at
http://www.duckdaotsu.org/082704-kissinger-pinochet.html