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Sat, 17 Oct 1998 13:21:25 -0600
Chile protests Pinochet arrest in London
LONDON (CNN) -- While British police kept former Chilean
dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet under arrest on murder charges
Saturday, the government of Chile filed a formal protest and
demanded that Britain "take whatever steps necessary to end this
situation."
The Chilean government said Saturday that Pinochet's arrest
violated his diplomatic immunity. The 82-year-old former general
still holds a lifetime seat in his country's senate, and had traveled
to London under a diplomatic passport.
Pinochet was recovering from minor surgery in a London hospital
Friday when police arrested him on a Spanish extradition warrant,
a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.
The warrant charges that between September 11, 1973, the year
he seized power, and December 31, 1983, Pinochet murdered
Spanish citizens in Chile.
Pinochet's press secretary in Santiago said the general was being
held in the London clinic where he underwent surgery for a
herniated disc on October 9. No hearing date has been set.
Spain probes murder, disappearances of citizens
In Spain, two separate investigations are looking into human rights
violations against Spaniards in Chile and Argentina.
A probe by magistrate Manuel Garcia Castellon covers alleged
murder, torture and disappearances in Chile during Pinochet's
regime.
A second investigation, by Judge Baltasar Garzon, focuses on
"Operation Condor," in which military regimes in Chile, Argentina
and Uruguay coordinated anti-leftist campaigns. Hundreds of
Spanish citizens allegedly disappeared in Argentina during
1976-83 military dictatorships.
The Spanish judges' petitions to question Pinochet are based on
the European Convention on Terrorism which requires signatories
to cooperate with each others' judicial processes in cases of
terrorism, according to Juan Garces, a lawyer involved in the
Spanish investigation into human rights violations in Chile.
Chile does not recognize international courts
Chile's ambassador to London said he will seek the release of
Pinochet, citing his diplomatic status. "What we must do is make it
clear that Mr. Pinochet is a senator, who travels with a diplomatic
passport," said Ambassador Mario Artaza. The Chilean
government has previously said that it does not recognize the
authority of international courts over situations that occurred in
Chile.
Earlier this year, Pinochet took his seat as a lifelong senator in
Chile, a role he wrote into the country's constitution. As a senator
his is immune from prosecution under Chilean law.
Admirers say he saved the country from the grip of communism,
but opponents despise him for the iron-fisted tactics he used to
oust Socialist President Salvador Allende in a coup in 1973.
Imposing authoritarian right-wing rule, Pinochet banned political
parties and shut congress, implemented a curfew for more than a
decade and persecuted known leftists.
Around 3,000 people reportedly died or vanished during his
17-year rule. Tens of thousand of others fled the country out of
fear of the military.
Pinochet only returned the country to democratic rule after he won
less than 50 percent of the vote in a nationwide plebiscite.
-- Prarit....[email protected] U2 news: http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
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