Molly Molloy *** Latin American Specialist *** New Mexico State University
Library *** Las Cruces, NM 88003 *** 505-646-6931 *** mmolloy@lib.nmsu.edu ***
http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/mmolloy
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 30 Sept 1999
From: hrwatchnyc@igc.org
To: hrw-news-americas@igc.org
Subject: Pinochet Extradition Seen
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Pinochet Extradition Seen
(London, September 30, 1999)- As the extradition hearings of Gen.
Augusto Pinochet closed today, Human Rights Watch expressed confidence
that Magistrate Ronald Bartle would commit the former dictator for
extradition.
"This is an open and shut case," said Reed Brody, Advocacy Director of
Human Rights Watch, which took part in the Pinochet hearings before the
House of Lords earlier this year. "Pinochet's lawyers have tried
diversions and smokescreens but they could not obscure the very
substantial allegations linking Pinochet to a policy of torture."
The charges against Pinochet include one count of conspiracy to commit
torture as well as 34 specific counts of torture against named
individuals after December 1988. Human Rights Watch described the
allegation of conspiracy as one of the most significant charges against
Pinochet, as well as the one which his lawyers were least likely to
defeat.
"The conspiracy charge goes to the heart of the case because it alleges
that Pinochet used
torture as a weapon of intimidation and political persecution," said
Brody. "The charge will allow the Spanish prosecutors to show that
Pinochet created an institutional framework that relied on torture, that
he was fully aware that torture was being practiced systematically and
that he never once punished anyone who had committed torture."
Human Rights Watch also underlined the significance of the prosecution's
reference to over 1,000 "disappearances" as part of Pinochet's
wide-ranging conspiracy, as well as the reading by chief prosecution
lawyer Alun Jones of letters from the families of the "disappeared."
"International law recognizes that the cruel practice of "disappearance"
inflicts serious pain and suffering on the loved ones of the
"disappeared" person, and that this torture continues as long as the
person's whereabouts are concealed," said Brody. "Including these
allegations in the case is a historic acknowledgement of their
continuing anguish."
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Tracking Information: hrw-news-americas 30 Sept 1999