Augusto Pinochet, Remains under house arrest
The British Home Secretary Jack Straw says he is now likely to free the former Chilean dictator and abandon extradition proceedings requested by Spain because the General is too ill to stand trial. Mr Straw has refused to release a doctors' report into General Pinochet's medical condition. He told MPs that General Pinochet had asked for details of the independent medical examination to be kept secret. Mr Straw, has told the Commons that no purpose would be served by extraditing the former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, to Spain for alleged crimes against humanity.
In his first Commons statement on the matter, Mr Straw said his decision was subject to representations. He added, however, that the medical team, which examined Pinochet, came to the unequivocal and unanimous conclusion that the former dictator was unfit to stand trial. Spain and Chile have said they will not contest the decision. Legal experts in Spain who have been trying to have the former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, extradited from Britain have reacted angrily to news that the extradition is unlikely to go ahead. In a statement last night, the British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, said that he was "minded not to extradite" the 84-year-old General. However, Mr Straw has delayed a final decision for seven days to allow time for further representations.
The 15-month legal wrangle over the fate of the former Chilean dictator is now drawing to a close. The General, who remains under house arrest in his rented Surrey mansion, has suffered a series of minor strokes and is also said to have heart problems and diabetes. His supporters, including Margaret Thatcher, have warmly welcomed the Home Secretary's statement. But his opponents, including human rights groups such as Amnesty International, are likely to appeal. The Chilean Ambassador in London, Pablo Cabrera, has said that General Pinochet could be stripped of his immunity and brought before the courts if he was returned to Chile.
The Spanish team which has been battling for several years to bring General Pinochet to trial has been stunned by the news from Britain. One of the lawyers on the team said that he believed the decision to release the former dictator would do untold damage to the fight against human rights abuses. He added that he thought the reports that the General's health was suffering were spurious. Others in Spain have called for further medical tests.
Thousands of people fled the military government in Chile in the 1970's and 1980's and settled in Spain. Many of them have been behind the campaign to bring the General Pinochet to trial and are the ones who will be most bitterly disappointed by Jack Straw's statement. The Spanish Government meanwhile has maintained that line that it has held all along: that it will respect any decision made by the British Government. However, it is widely accepted in Spain that government ministers will, behind closed doors, breathe a sigh of relief and try to repair the damage the case has done to its relations with Chile.
