DATE=10/12/1999
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=JUSTICE FOR GENERAL PINOCHET
NUMBER=6-11510
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: Late last week, a British court ruled that the
former dictator of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet,
may be extradited to Spain to face charges of torture
and murder.
It was the latest setback for the 83-year-old general
who ruled Chile with an iron hand for almost 20 years
and ruthlessly fought what he felt was a communist
conspiracy to take power. He has been under house
arrest near London, England, for almost a year, after
traveling to the United Kingdom for back surgery. He
was arrested by British authorities on an
international arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge
on behalf of survivors of his rule in Chile.
The U-S press has responded to the latest episode in
this legal and human rights drama with mixed feelings.
We get a sampling now from _____________ in today's
U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: The British Magistrate's Court judge who ruled
that Mr. Pinochet can be extradited, based his ruling
on Britain's adoption of an international anti-torture
pact in December 1988. The allegations against the
retired Chilean leader concern activities after that
date.
The case has raised many legal questions, including
the central one of pitting diplomatic immunity for
former national leaders, versus the responsibility of
other nations to enforce international treaties
banning criminal actions against prisoners. Mr.
Pinochet's detractors say he was a cruel despot who
used a secret police to kill and torture thousands of
people suspected of disloyalty to his regime.
Supporters say Chile had an active communist movement
under his predecessor in power, President Salvador
Allende, and that the nation was in danger of becoming
a communist, totalitarian state. This, his supporters
claim, justified Gen. Pinochet's tough measures while
in office. And with that background, we go to the
newspapers to get a sense of U-S opinion, beginning
with the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sun-Sentinel.
VOICE: Defense lawyers for Augusto Pinochet are
giving a new meaning to the word "torture" as they
argue that it doesn't apply to beating, electric
shocks and hanging prisoners by the wrists. The
defense team argues these and other law enforcement
abuses popularized during [Mr.] Pinochet's 1973-1990
dictatorship were "inhumane" and "degrading," but did
not constitute torture. That's like calling the
Spanish Inquisition a spiritual counseling session.
The nicest thing that can be said about [General]
Pinochet is that he finally let go of power
peacefully, and allowed his country to hold democratic
elections. ... Spain is treading on new ground as far
as international law is concerned. While trying [Mr.]
Pinochet for his alleged crimes sounds appealing, it
raises other troubling issues, such as violation of
diplomatic immunity and national sovereignty.
Furthermore, Spain's action will more than likely
deter other dictators from following [Mr.] Pinochet's
example of negotiating a peaceful transition to
democracy.
TEXT: The views of Fort Lauderdale Florida's Sun-
Sentinel.
In the Midwest, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch does not
have any qualms about what should happen to the former
Chilean leader.
VOICE: No matter how old he is, or how sick he is, no
matter how highly regarded he is by Margaret Thatcher,
conservative Chileans, former C-I-A operatives and
other people who praise him as the man who saved Chile
from communism, Augusto Pinochet must be made to
answer to the dreadful charges against him. Now it is
up to British Home Secretary Jack Straw to decide if
his nation will comply with the request. to extradite
Mr. Pinochet to stand trial there. . The new sword
drawn by Mr. Pinochet's defenders is that he is too
old and ill to be sent to Spain and stand trial. Mr.
Pinochet, worthy of a humanitarian ruling from Mr.
Straw? Please. How many of the thousands missing
would have loved a chance to grow that old and sick?
TEXT: In Britain, one of the former general's most
vocal supporters is Lady Margaret Thatcher, the former
conservative Prime Minister. However, The
Philadelphia Inquirer is not impressed with Lady
Thatcher's latest pleas on his behalf.
VOICE: Chile's brutal dictator in the 1970's and
1980s, General Augusto Pinochet, thinks he's getting
the bum's rush [an unfair hearing] in British courts.
His friend Margaret Thatcher huffs that her country is
acting like a police state, pursuing General Pinochet
"for defeating communism." These complaints, voiced
as Mr. Pinochet lost another round in court last week,
are bogus. . Whatever the upshot, this bold initiative
by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has served justice
and human rights. It's a worldwide warning shot to
tyrants who consider themselves untouchable.
TEXT: Taking the general's side, however is The New
York Post, which accuses the Spanish judge of being
both "left-wing" and "publicity-hungry," before
suggesting that there are two factors that make the
extradition illegal, or at least very troubling under
international law.
VOICE: The first is that [General] Pinochet was a
recognized head of state at the time of his alleged
crimes. Making such officials legally liable at the
hands of an outside nation might justify, for example,
Iraq demanding George Bush's extradition for war
crimes. The second factor is that, as a former
president, Pinochet is a life member of the Chilean
Senate, and travels with a diplomatic passport - which
means that he is entitled, like diplomats of all
countries, to legal immunity. Yes, such immunity is
often abused: Americans have long been justifiably
outraged at foreign diplomats who sneer at U-S law
behind their political shield. But immunity also
protects diplomats from being used as political
targets. .. Former British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher was right to label [Mr.] Pinochet a
"political prisoner." She also correctly questions
his ability to get a fair hearing in Spain.
VOICE: After outlining the arguments both for and
against the extradition, including the claim by the
general's lawyers that he should not be charged with
torture because most of the Chilean military's victims
lost consciousness or died quickly during their
ordeal, The St. Petersburg [Florida] Times sums up its
feelings this way:
Voice: Ignore the sophistry. Those who care about
the concept of international justice should applaud
the legal process that takes [Mr.] Pinochet ever
closer to some kind of reckoning for his crimes. He
can have his day in court - and so can the
representatives of those who were brutalized and
killed when he ruled Chile.
TEXT: The Los Angeles Times is pleased with an
ancillary development taking place in Chile as a
result of the case of General Pinochet.
VOICE: . as the case against [General] Pinochet
evolves in Britain, the wheels of justice in Chile are
beginning to move against the military officers who
served him. More than 40 officers who thought they
stood above civil law have been arrested on charges of
human rights violations. ... In Britain, the defense
is expected to file an appeal if [Home Secretary Jack]
Straw rules against [General] Pinochet, and the legal
battle may drag on. .The death or disappearance of
more than three-thousand Chileans under [General]
Pinochet's regime should weigh heaviest upon [Mr.]
Straw's conscience when the time to ponder his options
comes.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of
comment regarding the latest step in the extradition
battle involving the former Chilean leader, General
Augusto Pinochet.
NEB/ANG/JP
12-Oct-1999 17:16 PM EDT (12-Oct-1999 2116 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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