Madrid - Spanish investigating magistrate Mr Baltasar Garzon yesterday formally applied for the extradition of former Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet, who is on bail in a private hospital in Britain, legal sources said.
Judge Garzon, acting on behalf of families whose relatives were murdered during Gen Pinochet's regime, initiated the process which led to the general's arrest in London on October 16th. He accuses the Chilean of genocide, terrorism and torture.
The Spanish legal proceedings are going ahead independently of the outcome of those in Britain. Britain's High Court ruled last Wednesday that Gen Pinochet (82) enjoyed sovereign immunity as a head of state when the crimes were allegedly committed, and could not be extradited. The House of Lords is to hear an appeal against that decision today and tomorrow.
Shouting between friends and foes of Gen Pinochet disrupted a special Senate session in Chile to consider stripping him of his lifetime Senate seat. Relatives of those who disappeared during Gen Pinochet's reign interrupted a speech by the rightwing Senator Sergio Fernandez and former interior minister shouting "Murderer! Murderer!" from the gallery.
