Spain Lays Out Charges Against Pinochet

After nearly a year of legal battles and house arrest for Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator’s extradition hearing began here Monday with an attorney for Spain charging that the case presented “some of the most serious allegations of crime ever to come before English criminal courts.”

The 83-year-old Pinochet was not present in the courtroom to hear the reading of 35 cases of alleged torture and conspiracy to torture involving electric shocks leading to death, as well as beatings, burnings and suffocation.

Pinochet’s supporters say he is in fragile health at the rented mansion where he has lived under police guard since shortly after his arrest at a private London hospital Oct. 16. He must appear for the decision, which is expected next month.

The former dictator is being held on a warrant from Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who has accused him of overseeing a wave of terror and human rights abuses during his 1973-1990 rule in Chile.

In March, however, Britain’s high court said Pinochet could face extradition only on torture charges after 1988, when Britain adopted an international anti-torture convention. Only one of the original cases that the Spanish judge had presented against Pinochet fell into that category, but he subsequently added the others.

The Chilean government has said 3,197 people were killed and 1,000 disappeared in the political violence that marked Pinochet’s reign.

Pinochet has denied all the charges against him, saying he could not have known everything that was going on, or controlled everything in the country at the time. His lawyers also have said only Chilean courts have jurisdiction to try him.

Scotland Yard Inspector Andrew Hewitt described how Pinochet had insisted on his innocence and had said he was “being humiliated” by the case.

“I don’t agree with this. I had absolutely nothing to do with any of these charges,” Hewitt quoted Pinochet as saying. “I am being humiliated. I am a general--64 years service. I’m a gentleman who knows about honor.”

Supporters and opponents of Pinochet staged demonstrations outside the Bow Street Magistrates Court as the hearing unfolded.

Lawyer Alun Jones, appearing for Spain, said the hearing was not to determine Pinochet’s innocence or guilt, but whether the charges against him are extraditable crimes and whether Spain has jurisdiction.

“An act of torture by a public official anywhere in the world is an offense under United Kingdom law,” Jones said. “It becomes simply facile to argue that these offenses are a matter for Chile and no one else.”

He said that the charges against Pinochet were “some of the most serious” ever to come before an English court, and that torture constituted an offense in Britain and Spain punishable by more than 12 months in prison--the minimum required for extradition.

Pinochet’s lawyer, Clive Nicholls, told the court that he will protest the added cases. He said he also will argue that Spain has no jurisdiction in regard to the torture cases, and that there is no evidence to implicate Pinochet in the alleged crimes.

“His hand is not on the deeds,” Nicholls said. He said Pinochet believes that the case is “politically motivated.”

The hearing is expected to last five days. Either side may appeal the decision, prolonging the legal wrangling that has gone on for nearly a year and has reached Britain’s highest court.

If Magistrate Ronald Bartle decides that the extradition request is valid and his decision is upheld on appeal, it is up to Home Secretary Jack Straw to make the final decision on whether to extradite Pinochet to Spain for trial.

Whether or not Pinochet actually stands trial in Spain, many of his staunchest opponents have said his arrest and the case against him already have done a great deal to advance the evolution of international human rights law and to write Pinochet into history as a criminal.