Sunday Mirror
December 13
You Can Stick Your Justice
FORMER dictator Augusto Pinochet was wheeled into
court to face extradition proceedings yesterday. He
showed no humility and precious little grace.
Power may have been handed to others in his native
Chile, but his arrogance remained.
The 83-year-old general refused to recognise the
jurisdiction of an English court. He used a formal
request to identify himself as an opportunity to vaunt his
titles.
And he denounced his accusers - people wanting to try
him for torture, attempted murder and hostage taking -
as liars.
It was Pinochet's first public appearance since his arrest
on October 16 - a skinny, frail old man sitting
expressionless in a black wheelchair, his hands cradling
a redundant walking stick.
His suit, a faded brown pinstripe, seemed to match his
age. A yellow tie offered the only splash of colour. But
the voice, a rough, rasping monotone hard as nails, cut
through the years.
It was the voice of a hardman.
Speaking in Spanish through an interpreter, he said: "I
am Augusto Pinochet Ugarte," as if that alone were a
boast. "I was Commander in Chief of the Army, Captain
General of Chile, President of the republic. And actually
I am at the moment a senator of the republic."
Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary magistrate Graham
Parkinson thanked the General for so informing him.
Then he spelt out the reasons for setting a date for
Pinochet's extradition to face charges in Spain.
Charges for "torture, conspiracy to torture, attempted
murder, conspiracy to murder, hostage-taking and
conspiracy to take hostages". Sitting in Belmarsh top
security court, in south east London, the general
listened closely to the interpreter whispering into his
right ear.
But he said nothing. He was saving his words for later.
English justice, as ever, was politeness itself. General
Pinochet's lawyers asked permission for the old man to
be allowed to sit throughout the hearing. "Of course,"
agreed Mr Parkinson.
The magistrate then stopped proceedings to make sure
the people in the public gallery, screened by bullet-proof
glass, could hear properly. He was at pains to do
everything by the book. This case was, in his words, "an
important matter".
"And," he said, "as Chief Magistrate, I must decide it.
The responsibility must be taken by me and not passed
off to one of my colleagues."
Mr Parkinson described the decision to set a date for
the extradition hearing as a "very responsible and
difficult one".
And, as he did so, the drumbeats pounded by
anti-Pinochet protesters outside carried into the quiet
courtroom.
The crowd had come early. Three coachloads of the
general's supporters separated by barriers and a road
from 200 demonstrators demanding justice for the 3,000
and more who disappeared during the Pinochet's 17
years in power.
I watched as a black man from Uruguay walked to join
the anti-Pinochet crowd. The general's fans threw coins
at him. One supporter, a heavily made-up blonde, swore
at him.
"It's a good thing we don't have blacks in Chile," she
said. "We're right not to mix our race." She said she
believed in "the Fatherland". She said she believed in
Pinochet.
And, inside the court, the little man smiled for just a
moment as the lawyers and magistrate discussed
different dates for the planned hearing. It all seemed so
trivial. Just mere details.
Pinochet showed no emotion when Mr Parkinson said it
would be inhumane to restrict him from walking in the
garden of his �3,000-a-week, five-bedroom rented house
on the luxury Wentworth Estate, in Surrey.
It is a condition of bail that he stays there under
circumstances best described as house arrest. Now, at
least Pinochet can be wheeled around his one green
acre.
And so they fixed a time and place - 10.30 am, Monday,
January 18 at Bow Street Magistrates' Court - to begin
the process which seeks to have the man answer for his
alleged crimes before Spanish judges. "Until then you
will remain at the address specified," said Mr Parkinson.
"You will be guarded by officers of the Metropolitan
Police or other police forces.
"You will be allowed to exercise in the garden with the
permission of the senior police officer present. And such
permission may be withheld on the grounds of security
or other operational reasons." It was then that the
general opened his mouth once more.
"May I have permission to make a statement?" he said.
"With respect to Your Honour, I don't recognise the
jurisdiction of any other court except that of my country
to try me against all the lies of Spain." Now it was Mr
Parkinson who remained emotionless.
"I hear what he is saying," he said. "My duty is to
conduct matters in accordance with the Extradition Act
passed in this country. I do not take any disrespect to
the court in what he says."
Pinochet's face was a blank. Just a stiff man with
thinning, steel grey hair staring straight ahead.
It was the same impassive expression that he wore on
the 60-mile drive to the court in a dark green Ford
Galaxy. The vehicle was flanked by five police cars and
tracked by a police helicopter as it travelled along the
A30 and M25.
Someone had thrown a coat over the rear windows to
prevent photographs of the general being taken. But the
coat had slipped by the time Pinochet drew into the
court by a side route.
Police had left nothing to chance. There seemed to be
one officer for every protester. Guards were stationed on
the roof, trained marksmen from SO19 tactical firearms
unit were on the spot and a helicopter clattered
overhead. Six motorcycle outriders hemmed in General
VIP.
And all the while Pinochet's enemies screamed abuse
to the beat of that drum. Waving placards declaring
"Wanted for genocide," they yelled "Pinochet - butcher!"
Their noise drowned the protests of the general's
supporters. "Don't let the butcher go," they screamed.
One man wore a grotesque mask mimicking the
ex-dictator and held a poster saying "Go to Spain!"
One of the anti-Pinochet protesters, Berta Mariques, 59,
said: "I flew from Santiago last month when General
Pinochet was arrested. I had to be here to see this.
"It is totally right that he should be extradited to Spain
to pay for his crimes. I lost my sister and there are
many others here who have lost their loved ones
because of him." And they raised their banners aloft.
"Pinochet, where are they?" said one referring to the
"disappeared." "Verdad y justicia," - "Truth and Justice"
- demanded another. A third simply stated "Chile sin
Pinochet" - "Chile without Pinochet."
Gloria Lifventes, 52, was close to tears as she spoke of
her husband Wilfredo who vanished in Chile in 1973.
She said: "It was good to see Pinochet here. But it felt
creepy being so close to him. I hate him.
"He was clearly appealing to the court for compassion.
But he never showed the people he killed any
compassion at all. He doesn't deserve kind treatment."
Meanwhile, the general's fans began to yell again. Some
waved national flags and banners proclaiming "Send
Pinochet back to Chile" and "Viva Pinochet!"
"All of this is opening old wounds," said 42-year-old
mother of four Sol Letelier. "We want Pinochet home.
Our sovereignty must be respected. This is not
something about the man. It is about our country."
Then she pointed with disgust at the "antis", declaring:
"All those others are traitors to Chile. They are all
Communists. We want our general back for
democracy."
With strict impartiality, the police guided eight
representatives of each side into the court's public
gallery. But neither side could see the general as the
gallery was almost directly over his wheelchair.
But both listened in absolute silence until proceedings
ended. It took 27 minutes. Nearly half an hour in a case
which threatens to be months in the arguing.
It is a case which has spanned three countries, a case
at the centre of human liberties and a case which took
place one day after the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Yes it was, in Mr
Parkinson's understated phrase, an "important matter."
end
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