Report: Pinochet Team Claims Bias

Lawyers for Gen. Augusto Pinochet are seeking to overturn the ruling against the former Chilean dictator, apparently on grounds that the wife of one of the judges works for Amnesty International, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday.

The five-member Law Lords, Britain’s highest court, ruled last month that Pinochet does not have immunity from arrest, meaning that he must remain in custody while Spain seeks his extradition for killings and torture during his 17-year reign.

The 3-2 decision by the House of Lords tribunal reversed a court ruling that Pinochet’s arrest in London on Oct. 16 was illegal because he had immunity under English law for actions taken as a former head of state.

The Guardian quoted unidentified Chilean sources as saying submissions sent to the Home Office by Pinochet’s lawyers claim that the position of Gillian Hoffmann, wife of Lord Hoffmann, “questions the validity of the ruling.”

“They are believed to suggest that Lady Hoffmann’s relationship with Amnesty could give the appearance of bias,” the newspaper wrote.

Lord Hoffmann was one of the three justices who voted against Pinochet’s quest for immunity.

The Guardian quoted a spokesman for the London-based human rights organization as saying Gillian Hoffmann was an administrative assistant for Amnesty and was not involved in policy or in campaigning on the Pinochet case.

Leading human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson said that any suggestion of bias is preposterous.

“Pinochet’s lawyers were given ample opportunity to object to any of the judges before the hearing,” he told the Guardian.

The Amnesty spokesman also ridiculed the bias suggestion, saying: “If the Pinochet legal team have got to the stage where they are now pursuing this, they are clearly grasping at straws.”

Pinochet must appear in court Friday, the deadline by which Home Secretary Jack Straw must decide whether extradition proceedings can go ahead.

His best hope is that Straw will block the Spanish extradition proceedings.