Chile President Bows to Military Pressure

Chile President Bows to Military Pressure
BBC, 6 December 2000

Chile's President, Ricardo Lagos, has agreed to convene the country's top security committee, following military concern about the treatment of General Augusto Pinochet. Military commanders requested the meeting of the National Security Council - which gives them a political say during moments of national crisis - after a judge ordered the arrest of the former military ruler. Mr Lagos has maintained that General Pinochet's fate is a matter for the courts. However, in a statement broadcast live on radio and television, the president said that the committee would meet after the courts have given their final ruling on the legality of the order to arrest General Pinochet. He said that this was in order to avoid giving the impression that any pressure was being exerted on the country's judicial system. Mr Lagos said he did not like the fact that the country had a National Security Council, a body invented during the Pinochet years. "But it is an institution that exists and I must accept it," he said. The president said he would therefore convene the council only on this important condition.

Military concerns

The BBC's correspondent in Chile, James Reynolds, says the president's decision will be welcomed by the military commanders, as the committee is the only constitutional way they can show their unhappiness with the situation facing their former commander-in-chief. At a meeting with President Lagos on Tuesday, the heads of the armed forces made it clear that they believed the decision to indict and arrest General Pinochet threatened peace and tranquillity in Chile. If the president had not agreed call a meeting of the Security Council, the armed forces would have had the right to do so themselves. However the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, has appealed to President Lagos to stand by his promise that his government would resist
military pressure to interfere in the judicial proceedings governing the general.

Judge reprimanded

Last week, Judge Juan Guzman ordered the arrest of General Pinochet, who has been formally charged with kidnapping and murder. The general would avoid trial if doctors declared him mentally unfit. The charges relate to General Pinochet's alleged involvement in more than 70 abductions and murders carried out by a military squad known as the "Caravan of Death" in 1973. However on Tuesday, an appeals court suspended the detention order pending an appeal by the general's supporters. The appeal was due to be heard on Thursday, but the Associated Press news agency reported that it would now begin on Friday because one of the three judges, Lamberto Cisternas, had withdrawn from the case over health problems. It was not clear whether a change of judge might affect the outcome of the hearing.

The hearing is expected to mark the start of another stage in the long legal battle over General Pinochet as both sides have indicated they will appeal to Chile's Supreme Court if the verdict goes against them. In another surprise development, the Supreme Court has issued a "written reprimand" to Judge Guzman for a letter of support he wrote to a state prosecutor against against General Pinochet. This letter forms part of a case against the judge's involvement in the Pinochet case: They argue it shows that the judge is not impartial. However Judge Guzman appeared relaxed over the reprimand, which he said he had yet to read. He told reporters in Santiago: "I've always expressed solidarity to colleague lawyers who face trouble".

Pinochet's case

General Pinochet's lawyers argue that Judge Guzman did not follow the correct legal procedures when charging the general. They also say General Pinochet should undergo medical tests to see if he is fit to stand trial before being charged.
Judge Guzman says that if medical tests show that the general is fit, he will then question him. Under Chilean statute, legal action has to end only if the accused is shown to be either insane or suffering from dementia. The whole legal saga against General Pinochet began in October 1998, when police arrested the general in the UK at the request of a Spanish judge who wanted to try him on charges of torture. The general spent 503 days in custody before being allowed to return home, after Britain ruled he was too old and sick to undergo trial in Spain.

Copyright 2000 BBC