Magistrates here yesterday granted the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, an extended deadline for his decision on whether to allow extradition proceedings against the former Chilean dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet.
Lawyers for Gen Pinochet and the Spanish authorities agreed at Bow Street Court that Mr Straw needed extra time to consider representations from both sides in the aftermath of Wednesday's historic ruling by the law lords that the former dictator did not enjoy sovereign immunity. Next Wednesday's scheduled hearing was therefore postponed until December 11th.
The latest legal moves came against a backdrop of mounting diplomatic activity, and feverish political speculation, as to the Home Secretary's eventual decision on arguably the most complex, and potentially explosive, issue to confront him since assuming office.
The Chilean Foreign Minister, Mr Jose Miguel Insulza, met the Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, yesterday afternoon to press the case for Gen Pinochet's release and return home - only to be told that the matter was for due legal process and not "for diplomatic negotiation". That line was reinforced when 10 Downing Street claimed that the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, did not expect to be consulted about the Home Secretary's decision; and that Mr Straw would exercise his statutory responsibilities, in "a quasi-judicial role", without consulting other cabinet colleagues.
Mr Straw must now decide by December 11th whether to issue a so-called authority to proceed and allow the Spanish extradition request to be heard in the British courts.
In the light of that decision, the Chief Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr Graham Parkinson, postponed next Wednesday's planned first court appearance by the 83-yearold general - saying that "subject to any medical reports" he would expect him to appear before the court on December 11th.
Mr Michael Caplan, acting for Gen Pinochet, appeared to scotch suggestions that the former dictator might be planning to plead unfitness to stand trial.
The 1989 Extradition Act permits the Home Secretary to refuse an extradition request on compassionate grounds, if the person sought is considered unfit to stand on health grounds - a power Mr Straw invoked when refusing a German application for the extradition of Ms Roisin McAliskey.
A report in yesterday's London Times said Gen Pinochet was under the care of a top psychiatrist and being treated for a stressrelated disorder.
Mr Cook assured his Chilean counterpart that Britain's handling of the Pinochet case was not "politically motivated". During hour-long talks at the Foreign Office he also assured Mr Insulza of Britain's strong support for Chile's democracy.
Mr Insulza pressed the Chilean government's "strong view" that Gen Pinochet should be freed to return home in his meeting with Mr Cook and, later, with officials at 10 Downing Street.
Senior Tories, meanwhile, continued to cite the British government's approach to the Northern Ireland peace process in pressing for Gen Pinochet's return to Chile. The former defence secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, said Chile was a "mature democracy" which had found a consensus and a compromise.
Gen Pinochet should quit politics when he returns to his home country, Mr Insulza told a news conference after meeting Mr Cook. "After what happened two days ago, he has to leave it [politics], to go back home and stay there in peace. He has no major role to play in Chilean politics," said Mr Insulza.
President Armando Calderon Sol of El Salvador said yesterday the Lords ruling was "an aberration, a monstrosity". --(Reuters)
AFP adds from Madrid: The Spanish investigating magistrate, Mr Baltasar Garzon, has no immediate plans to take his investigation of Gen Pinochet to the US, though this remains an option for the future, Spanish judicial sources said yesterday.
The New York Times reported yesterday that Mr Garzon would go to Washington to try to see secret US government files on events in Chile and Argentina in the 1970s.