Britain’s highest court yesterday upheld the arrest of former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet, but tossed out nearly all the torture and murder charges against him.
The 6-1 ruling by a House of Lords tribunal managed to please critics and supporters of the general who ruled Chile with an iron fist for 17 years.
Pinochet, 83, had mixed feelings.
“He took it calmly … really calmly,” his son, Antonio Marco Pinochet, told Chile’s state-owned TV station.
“It is not a case of crying or celebrating … It’s a decision that cuts down the problem, but it is not a victory.”
The ex-dictator was arrested in London in October on a warrant from Spain, which wants to try him for human-rights abuses allegedly committed by his secret police force.
His lawyers challenged the arrest, arguing that a former head of state cannot be prosecuted in a foreign court for acts committed while in power.
Human-rights groups contended that Pinochet’s actions were so horrific that he could not be granted blanket immunity from prosecution.
Yesterday’s precedent-setting ruling says Pinochet is not entitled to immunity.
But the judges also found he cannot be prosecuted for offenses committed before 1988, when Britain incorporated the United Nations convention on torture.
That means all but three of the 32 charges he faced – a list of torture and murder Spain claims his forces committed between 1973 and 1990 – must be thrown out.
Human-rights activists say they’re happy with the partial victory.
But Pinochet’s supporters believe the gutting of Spain’s warrant could mean he’ll never be extradited.