Word: pinochets
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...PINOCHET CONUNDRUM...
Human-rights advocates around the world rightly rejoice at the idea that Chile's ex-President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte might be extradited to Spain [WORLD, Dec. 14]. If this occurs, Pinochet will be judged for past crimes. Heads of government should never get away with torture and murder. But unless an impartial international criminal tribunal is established with very clear rules and procedures, going after only certain dictators will be an arbitrary process. Also, if a nation approves a general amnesty for atrocities committed by one of its regimes, should a foreign judge be allowed to disrupt that nation...
Britain chose to ignore Chile's democratically elected President Eduardo Frei's demands that Pinochet be returned to Chile and his fate be decided by the Chileans. After all, the alleged crimes did not take place in England or Spain but in Chile. Thus British liberals are telling a presumably sovereign nation that territoriality doesn't count, that Chile cannot be trusted with its own political affairs. Colonialism is back. EDWARD KAUSEL Cambridge, Mass...
...defenders of General Pinochet show no scruples when making a case for this South American butcher. They tell us about taking into account "humanitarian reasons" for the immediate release of the dictator, as if humanitarian considerations played a role in the thousands of torture sessions that occurred in Chile during Pinochet's regime. The charges against Pinochet are most serious. If he is not brought to trial, humanity will lose the opportunity to resolve a great misunderstanding: the confusion between ideology and fascism. DANILO ZIMBRES Sao Paulo...
...another hearing will take place to decide whether Pinochet, as a former head of state, still enjoys sovereign immunity, a British law that protects foreign dignitaries visiting England. The legal questions are complex, and how a new panel will rule is anybody's guess. "It's like replaying a football match," notes TIME London bureau chief Barry Hillenbrand. "There's no guarantee it will still turn out 3-2." Pinochet's attorneys are appealing extradition on several other fronts as well. Clearly, the only people who are guaranteed to do well in this case are Pinochet's lawyers...