Justice Won’t Sleep, Mr. Pinochet

When former dictator Augusto Pinochet evaded extradition to Spain last March and returned to Chile, many thought he would never face prosecution for his regime’s reign of terror in the 1970s. The courts, it was believed, would not stand up to the military and political rightists. But newly elected President Ricardo Lagos predicted he would be brought to justice, and last Monday a Chilean court of appeals took a long step toward that outcome by lifting Pinochet’s parliamentary immunity.

Until the court acted, Pinochet had been shielded from prosecution by a constitutional provision that he himself had promulgated, granting all past presidents a Senate seat for life, and with it immunity from any prosecution. Included were human rights abuses during the military regimes of the 1970s and 1980s.

Should the Chilean Supreme Court rule against Pinochet, he will face prosecution in a specific case--the disappearance of 19 of the 75 victims of the so-called “Caravan of Death,” a military squad that went on a murderous rampage shortly after Pinochet’s 1973 coup. Because the bodies of these 19 have not been found, they cannot be officially considered dead. The appeals court held that because of this technicality Pinochet is not eligible for amnesty under the provisions of the law.

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the case, the new decision restores the credibility of the Chilean justice system and repudiates the regime of Pinochet and his cronies.