----- Original Message ----- From: Francisco Javier Bernal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Stop NATO! - No Pasarn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 7:50 PM Subject: The Nazi B*****d is free, as usual ... [STOPNATO.ORG.UK] STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK Pinochet camp jubilant after murder charges dropped 6:28pm Monday, 11th December 2000 A Chilean appeals court has voted to drop murder and kidnapping charges against former dictator General Augusto Pinochet. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say they will appeal the 3-0 vote before the Supreme Court within 24 hours. "We won, we won," an exultant Pinochet lawyer, Sergio Castro, said as he raised three fingers from his hand to indicate the 3-0 vote by the Santiago Court of Appeals panel. Carmen Hertz, an-anti Pinochet lawyer and the widow of a dissident killed during the Pinochet regime, called the court's decision "a mere technicality." "The court has only ruled that the indictment of Pinochet was improper because he was not questioned by a judge before it was issued ," Ms Hertz said. "But the ruling does not involve the essence of the case against him." Arguments centred on the defence's claim that Judge Juan Guzman acted illegally by indicting Pinochet before questioning him. Pinochet faced 189 criminal complaints stemming from the human rights abuses during his 1973-90 dictatorship. He was accused of having responsibility for the Caravan of Death, a military operation that executed political prisoners shortly after the September 1973 coup in which Pinochet overthrew Marxist President Salvador Allende. Pinochet was charged with the murder of 55 victims whose bodies were recovered and the kidnapping of 18 who remain missing. (c) Copyright Ananova Ltd 2000, all rights reserved. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb
