-Caveat Lector-
>From Irish Times:
WORLDSaturday, December 12, 1998<Picture>
Pinochet remanded, refuses to recognise court
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lawyers now turn their attention to the challenge to the Law Lords' ruling
next week, writes Frank Millar, London Editor
<Picture>Pinochet: 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A<>E<>R
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
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