>>Let Zolt! have his flights of fancy. He is harmless to most folks equipped with the facts---its the others I worry about.
Whoops, the law intrudes on the rule that is Leftist insanity:
Court Rules Pinochet Has Immunity
By SUE LEEMAN Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) -- Three High Court judges today quashed
arrest warrants against Gen. Augusto Pinochet, ruling that the
former Chilean dictator is entitled to immunity from
prosecution.
''The applicant is entitled as a former head of state to
immunity from civil and criminal proceedings of the English
court,'' Lord Chief Justice Thomas Bingham said.
Pinochet, 82, will remain in custody pending appeal by a
Spanish magistrate.
Dozens of Chilean exiles in court cheered when they heard
Pinochet must stay in custody.
''A former head of state is clearly entitled to immunity for
criminal acts committed in the course of exercising public
functions,'' Bingham said.
''I order that both provisional warrants be quashed. We will
listen to any argument that will be addressed to us on leave to
appeal.''
British police arrested the 82-year-old Pinochet on Oct. 16 in
his bed at a London hospital. He was arrested on a warrant
from a Spanish magistrate seeking his extradition to face
charges of murder, kidnapping and torturing political
opponents during his 17-year rule.
Four Chilean exiles have asked Britain's Attorney General to
make Pinochet stand trial in Britain. Similar filings are being
pursued in Switzerland, Sweden and France.
Pinochet stepped down in 1990, but remained
commander-in-chief of the army until last March.
Pinochet's lawyers argued that the Spanish warrant was illegal
on grounds that former heads of state cannot be prosecuted
for actions committed in their ''official capacity'' and because
he is not Spanish.
Attorney Alun Jones, representing the Spanish magistrate,
countered that murder and torture are not ''something that is
in the furtherance of his function as head of state.''
Jones alleged that Pinochet was responsible for up to 4,000
murders, including at least one in the United States, and had
sent agents to Spain to kill opponents there.
Pinochet is under guard in a London hospital, where he is
recovering from an Oct. 9 back operation.
Earlier, Britain had advised its citizens to avoid nonessential
travel to Chile, warning they could become targets of violence
there in response to Pinochet's arrest.
The Foreign Office said anti-British feeling is running high in
Chile since Pinochet's arrest.
The travel warning caused some surprise in Chile because
authorities said no crimes targeting British citizens have been
reported. Officials of the Chilean-British Culture Institute in
Santiago confirmed receiving insulting telephone calls, but
refused to comment further.
In its travel advisory, the Foreign Office called the situation in
Chile ''volatile.'' British nationals and British commercial
interests could become ''targets of mob violence,'' it
cautioned, and Britons should ''keep a low profile.''
Chilean Deputy Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez, in
London seeking Pinochet's release, said the travel warning
was ''not the best way to avoid the political escalation of this
situation.''
It was ''giving the way for the interpretation that you are
facing almost a political conflict. This is not our view,'' he said.
In protest of Pinochet's detention, two Chilean admirals had
called off a trip to negotiate the possible purchase of three
British warships.
In Spain, Judge Baltasar Garzon, who instigated the arrest,
rejected appeals against the warrant made last week by
Eduardo Fungarino, chief prosecutor of the National Court to
which Garzon is also attached.
Garzon has issued a new extradition warrant alleging an
unspecified number of murders, tortures and kidnappings up
to 1992, two years after Pinochet stood down. He remained
commander-in-chief of the Chilean army until March.
newsday.com
That should put a damper on some Halloween parties. Even the Spanish government opposed the gross abuse of power by the magistrate and the British government.
Now maybe the world can concentrate on the remaining tyrants and on coming to terms with the absolutely unprecedented scale of mass murders and human rights violations perpetrated by the Leftist totalitarians of the 20th century. |
