Spanish Judge Orders Review of Pinochet Health Study
The Spanish judge seeking the extradition of former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet has named a team of doctors to review a British medical report on Pinochet’s condition, court sources said Thursday.
Judge Baltasar Garzon, who secured Pinochet’s arrest in London in October 1998 on human rights charges, wants to scrutinize the report by British doctors who declared the 84-year-old mentally unfit for trial.
Two Spanish newspapers cited the report, leaked to the press, as saying that Pinochet had suffered brain damage.
Depending on the Spanish doctors’ conclusions, Garzon may request a second round of medical tests for Pinochet.
Garzon has said that the investigation will be conducted secretly.
The team, which includes a psychiatrist, a geriatrics specialist and a neurophysiologist, started work Wednesday and has until Monday to present its findings to Garzon.
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