The British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, was back in the hot seat last night after the House of Lords told him to reconsider his "authority to proceed" with Spain's extradition request against Gen Augusto Pinochet.
Anti-Pinochet demonstrators wept with relief as the seven law lords, by a six to one margin, overturned last October's High Court ruling that the former Chilean dictator enjoyed sovereign immunity from arrest and extradition by virtue of his position as a former Head of State.
Their decision was immediately hailed "a milestone for international human rights law" by Amnesty International.
But while the ruling meant the former dictator would have to remain in England and fight extradition, his lawyers welcomed the fact that the law lords had drastically reduced the number and range of charges against him.
The chairman of the seven strong panel, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, confirmed Gen Pinochet could not be extradited on charges of torture and other human rights abuses committed prior to 1988 - when the Criminal Justice Act made torture an "extra-territorial" crime under British law.
In a lengthy speech he explained that under the principle of "double criminality" nobody could be extradited to a foreign country unless the conduct alleged constituted a crime under the law of that country and of the UK.
Torture outside the United Kingdom "was not a crime under the law of the United Kingdom until the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, Section 134, came into force on 29 September 1988."
The six members of the committee held, therefore, that "under the ordinary law of extradition, Senator Pinochet cannot be extradited to face charges in relation to torture occurring before 29 September 1988 because, until that date, the double criminality principle was not satisfied."
The result of this decision, Lord Browne-Wilkinson said, "is to eliminate the majority of the charges levelled against Senator Pinochet by the government of Spain and relied upon as the basis for extraditing him."
Emphasising they were not concerned with the expediency or otherwise of extraditing Gen Pinochet, Lord Browne-Wilkinson said: "We have decided, as a matter of law, that proceedings for the extradition of Senator Pinochet could proceed if the Home Secretary thought it appropriate."
However, he went on: "We have also said that in view of the very substantial reduction in the number of extraditable charges, the matter will require to be reconsidered by the Home Secretary."
The bulk of the charges against Gen Pinochet laid in the Spanish extradition request relate to acts allegedly committed by his security services in the early months and years following the bloody coup in which he seized power in September 1973.
Lord Browne-Wilkinson said the remaining charges were one of torture, allegedly carried out after September 29th, 1988; certain "conspiracy to torture" charges relating to the period between September 1988 and January 1990; and certain charges of conspiracy to murder in Spain.
The dramatic reduction in charges won a guarded welcome from Gen Pinochet's lawyer, Mr Miguel Alex Schweitzer, who said: "Compared to what we had before this is very good."
But Mr Vicente Alegria, of the Association of Chilean Exiles in the UK, also claimed a victory: "I am not disappointed. Pinochet is still under arrest and there are crimes for which he can be extradited."
As Mr Straw confirmed he would be considering the case afresh in light of the law lords' ruling - saying nothing else, save that the case remained sub-judice - Baroness Thatcher and Lord Lamont led renewed calls for the general's immediate return to Chile.
Lady Thatcher said: "The law lords have now confirmed that almost all the charges brought against Senator Pinochet are inadmissible. In these circumstances it is quite wrong to keep him here."
However, as she spoke, jubilant anti-Pinochet campaigners were travelling from Westminster to the general's rented home in Wentworth, Surrey.
One woman wore a prison suit, with a ball and chain attached to her foot bearing the message: "1,198 missing, 3,005 executed."