Decision could affect domestic Chilean political landscape

The Supreme Court's ruling that Gen Augusto Pinochet be stripped of his legislative immunity and subjected to prosecution for…

The Supreme Court's ruling that Gen Augusto Pinochet be stripped of his legislative immunity and subjected to prosecution for human rights violations has been described by human rights activists as a landmark decision.

It will radically reshape the human rights debate going on in Chile for the past 27 years and will no doubt have a serious impact on the country's political and military landscape.

Of the 20 justices on the Supreme Court, three are Pinochetera appointees, while the remaining 17 were ratified by a Senate controlled by pro-Pinochet forces.

Gen Pinochet had appealed the previous Santiago Appeals Court decision that there was "a well-founded suspicion" that he was involved in political executions immediately after the military coup on September 11th, 1973, that catapulted him to power. The former dictator had previously enjoyed immunity from prosecution by virtue of his position as a lifetime senator and the 1978 Amnesty Law.

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His arrest in London in October 1998 - on a warrant by Spanish court authorities seeking his extradition to face trial for human rights abuses - triggered what many court observers considered a change in attitude in Chile's judiciary.

This change was also brought on, in part, by the retirements of six Pinochet-appointed judges. Until then the courts had given a very conservative interpretation to the Amnesty Law that prevented the investigation or prosecution of any crimes committed by the security forces before 1978.

In July 1999 the Supreme Court voted unanimously to support the indictments issued by investigating Judge Juan Guzman Tapia to five former army officers who led the so-called "Caravan of Death".

The Caravan, commanded by Gen Sergio Arellano Stark, toured the country in Puma helicopters in the first few months of the coup, under direct orders from Gen Pinochet to "speed up" military trials of leftists. A total of 76 prisoners were executed by the Caravan, and while Arellano denied any personal guilt he did admit the killings took place.

The remains of 19 of the executed have yet to be located, giving basis to the charges brought by Judge Guzman of "aggravated kidnappings", since a kidnapping is an ongoing offence until the kidnapped person is found.

This case was also the basis of Judge Guzman's request to lift the lifetime senator's immunity. The judges based their arguments on testimonies from witnesses and former army officials who claim they were shown a letter signed by Gen Pinochet giving Gen Arellano authorisation to order expedited war tribunals, which resulted in the execution of political prisoners.

This decision by the Supreme Court effectively eliminated the 1978 law and opened the door to the prosecution of 220 cases that had been lying dormant in both military and civilian courts.

An estimated 1,200 individuals who "disappeared" during the 17-year military regime are still unlocated, and 1,500 military officials were involved in the 400 war tribunals created following the overthrow of President Allende.

Gen Pinochet can now be prosecuted not only in the Caravan of Death homicides, but in more than 150 other criminal charges that have been brought against him the past two years.

On October 14th, 1989, Gen Pinochet told El Mercurio newspaper: "I never threaten. I am not accustomed to threatening. I have never threatened anyone in my whole life. I just warn one time . . . No one will touch me or anyone. The day that one of my men is touched, the state of law ends. I have said this only one time, and I won't say it again." But a decade is a long time in Latin American politics.

Life sentences handed down to former CNI (secret police) agents last week were the most severe yet to be given to any collaborators of the Pinochet regime, and some 80 Pinochet-era officials are now indicted in other human rights cases.

Clear evidence that Chile's courts are doing their job.