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Chilean court strips Pinochet of immunity
FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean court stripped Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution today for his alleged role in the killing of 119 dissidents in the early years of his dictatorship.
The Santiago Court of Appeals voted 11-10 to strip the 89-year-old former dictator of the legal immunity he enjoys as former president for a case known as "Operation Colombo" during his 1973-90 regime.
The ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court.
The case, which involved the killing of 119 people in 1975, was complicated. The Pinochet regime said the victims had clashes in Argentina involving rival armed groups opposed to his rule. The opposition said they were dissidents.
To support its claim, the regime cited an Argentine magazine called Lea, which published details of the alleged clashes and the names of the victims. The magazine, however, never really existed — it was a one-time publication with the case of the Chilean victims.
The former ruler suffers from a mild case of dementia, diabetes, arthritis and has a pacemaker, a health situation that has made a court twice block his trial on charges related to human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship.
His opponents claim he and his associates have exaggerated his health problems to escape trial and that he is usually hospitalized when a court is about to rule on some of the multiple criminal lawsuits he faces stemming from the alleged human rights abuses. [from thestar.com]
Woohoo!!!
FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean court stripped Gen. Augusto Pinochet of immunity from prosecution today for his alleged role in the killing of 119 dissidents in the early years of his dictatorship.
The Santiago Court of Appeals voted 11-10 to strip the 89-year-old former dictator of the legal immunity he enjoys as former president for a case known as "Operation Colombo" during his 1973-90 regime.
The ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court.
The case, which involved the killing of 119 people in 1975, was complicated. The Pinochet regime said the victims had clashes in Argentina involving rival armed groups opposed to his rule. The opposition said they were dissidents.
To support its claim, the regime cited an Argentine magazine called Lea, which published details of the alleged clashes and the names of the victims. The magazine, however, never really existed — it was a one-time publication with the case of the Chilean victims.
The former ruler suffers from a mild case of dementia, diabetes, arthritis and has a pacemaker, a health situation that has made a court twice block his trial on charges related to human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship.
His opponents claim he and his associates have exaggerated his health problems to escape trial and that he is usually hospitalized when a court is about to rule on some of the multiple criminal lawsuits he faces stemming from the alleged human rights abuses. [from thestar.com]
Woohoo!!!