An angry and defiant General Augusto Pinochet told Bow Street Magistrates yesterday he did not recognise the jurisdiction of their court in considering the Spanish application for his extradition to face charges of "diabolical crimes" against humanity.
The former Chilean dictator was making his first public appearance since his arrest in October; since the historic ruling by the Law Lords that he did not enjoy sovereign immunity as a former head of state; and since Wednesday's determination by the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, that the Spanish extradition request should proceed before the British courts.
Dapper in brown pin-stripe suit, off-white shirt and gold tie, his hand resting on a walking stick, the 83-year-old general looked resolutely glum during proceedings in the high-security court complex at Belmarsh, normally host to Britain's most dangerous criminal and terrorist suspects.
Watched by diplomatic and political supporters from the public gallery, including the head of Chile's Institute for Military Studies, Gen Pinochet spoke only twice during the hearing lasting just under 30 minutes.
After his arrival in the court in a wheelchair, Gen Pinochet was asked by the clerk to state his name. Speaking in Spanish, his words translated, he replied: "I am Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. I was commander-in-chief of the army, the Captain General of Chile, and actually I am at the moment a senator of the Republic."
He then sat stern and motionless as the court determined how the case should proceed, varying the terms of his bail only to permit him use of the garden in his temporary home on the luxury Wentworth estate in Surrey - but with even that privilege subject to the decision of the senior police officer on duty, and liable to be withheld on grounds of security.
Having heard the case adjourned until January 18th, and been told that he need not appear on that occasion, Mr Clive Nicholls QC said that, as this was his first appearance since his arrest, his client was anxious to make a statement. Gen Pinochet told Mr Graham Parkinson, the Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate: "With respect to your honour, I do not recognise the jurisdiction of any other court, except in my country, to try me against all the lies of Spain."
But for all the defiant language, there was no suggestion that Gen Pinochet - Britain's friend during the Falklands War - was about to emulate Irish republicans by dismissing counsel and surrendering his fate to the bench.
On the contrary, the decision that the general need not appear before the magistrates on January 18th reflected the uncertainties arising from the unprecedented challenge his lawyers will mount in the House of Lords next week in an attempt to overturn the original decision of the Law Lords on a split 3/2 decision.
A committee of three Law Lords will sit on Tuesday and Wednesday to hear representations that the decision on immunity should be overturned because one of the three-man majority, Lord Hoffmann, has links with Amnesty International.
Amnesty says the decision shows desperation on the part of Gen Pinochet's lawyers, and that the involvement of Lord and Lady Hoffmann with the organisation had not extended to any part of its campaign against the former dictator.
Yesterday's hearing was told that, if the lawyers succeeded in having the original ruling set aside, January 12th would be the earliest date on which the Law Lords could sit to reconsider the case. In consequence, the parties would be unlikely to agree a date for the full extradition committal hearing, and it might be possible to set a date only for a directions hearing, which the general need not attend.
Mr Nicholls told the court he and his colleagues were also still considering whether to seek leave for judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision to grant the "authority to proceed".
Labour MPs cheered Mr Straw when he appeared in the Commons on Wednesday night following his decision. But in an increasingly polarised debate, the government was criticised for reaching "an accommodation of convenience with Gerry Adams" while denying Chile the right to do the same with Gen Pinochet. In his ruling Mr Straw noted that, while the Chilean government had urged the general's return home for trial, he had no extradition request from Chile to consider.