It would be "absurd and suicidal" for Gen Augusto Pinochet to agree to hand himself over to the Spanish courts before his extradition hearing in London on September 27th, his Spanish defence lawyers have warned. The former Chilean dictator recently appointed two of Spain's leading criminal lawyers to fight his case in Spain and yesterday they requested their accreditation before the National Court to represent him.
They advised him that if he agreed to hand himself over voluntarily before the London hearing, Gen Pinochet would be laying himself open the many charges of genocide, torture and terrorism currently being investigated by Judge Baltasar Garzon, whereas if he waited until after the London hearing, he would only face charges as covered by the international agreement on torture signed by Britain and Spain.
"This would amount to a virtual acquittal, since he would only have to answer charges of torture between December 1988 and 1990 when he ceased to be head of state, and during that period there are no cases of torture involving any Spaniard," said one of the lawyers, Mr Fernando Escardo. He added that the final decision would be left to Gen Pinochet.
By applying for their accreditation in the Pinochet case, Mr Escardo and his colleague, Mr Jose Maria Stampa Braun, have walked into a judicial minefield. There is no legal precedent for the accreditation of a defence lawyer when the accused is imprisoned in a foreign country.
A Chilean military delegation, led by Brig Juan Carlos Salgado, yesterday flew to London from Madrid revealing a divergence of opinion with the defence team. Although Brig Salgado admitted that his government had proposed that a decision on Gen Pinochet be left to bilateral arbitration, Mr Stampa Braun said that international arbitration was not applicable in this case.