Britain's Law Lords have ruled that General Pinochet must remain in Britain to face extradition proceedings. The former Chilean leader is wanted in Spain on charges of human rights abuses against Spanish nationals.
However, today's ruling by the seven law lords greatly reduces the number of charges the General now faces. Six of the panel of seven House of Lords judges have decided that Augusto Pinochet cannot be extradited for crimes allegedly committed before 1988.
That is because it was not until 1988 that torture, wherever it was committed, was made an offence in the UK. This Law Lords ruling effectively eliminates the majority of the charges against Pinochet, since most of them relate to 1973 at the time of the Chilean coup and the time immediately thereafter.
However, General Pinochet remains liable for a lesser number of charges relating to the time after 1988. It is on these three charges, of torture, conspiracy to torture and conspiracy to murder, that the Law Lords have ruled, by a majority of six to one, that the general has no immunity and must face extradition proceedings.
The impact of today's ruling is that it is now open to the Home Secretary to reconsider the whole basis of the case against the former dictator. General Pinochet's lawyers cannot appeal directly against today's House of Lords ruling but they can return to the High Court in London to ask for a judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision to allow the extradition process to go ahead.
Also, given that there are now only three charges outstanding against the General, Jack Straw could now decide to simply drop extradition proceedings against him. That is unlikely to happen and the stage now looks set for a protracted legal battle through the English courts which could continue well into next year.
