BY TONY HUNT
LONDON - Britain's highest court, the judiciary committee of
the House of Lords, decided November 25 that former Chilean
dictator Augusto Pinochet could face extradition to Spain on
charges of torture, genocide, and kidnapping.
The 3-2 judgment overturned an earlier ruling of a lower court that Pinochet was entitled to "sovereign immunity" as a former head of state. Whether or not Pinochet is actually extradited is now in the hands of Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw and could be the subject of weeks of further legal proceedings.
Whatever the outcome, the decision effectively establishes the right of the British imperialists - who are guilty of brutal violations of human rights in Ireland and around the world - to interfere in the affairs of oppressed countries like Chile. The ex-dictator, who came to power in a bloody, U.S.- supported military coup in 1973, was arrested October 16 in London by British police acting on a Spanish warrant.
Liberal and social democratic forces, celebrated the decision. The director of Amnesty International in Chile said the decision "created a universal precedent that crimes against humanity must be brought to justice." The New York-based Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, Switzerland, also praised the ruling. Spain's Socialist Party leader José Borrell welcomed the decision and criticized the right-wing Spanish government for efforts to halt the work of judge Baltasar Garzón, who issued the arrest warrant.
Two of the three judges who voted for the judgment were reported to hold liberal views. One of them handled "contempt of court" proceedings against the National Union of Miners during the 1984-85 miners' strike. The two judges who voted against the ruling are reportedly conservatives.
Some rail workers watching TV coverage at the Waterloo station in London applauded the court ruling.
Backers of Pinochet's arrest have falsely painted the British rulers as defenders of human rights and "justice." The Chilean/British Ad Hoc Committee for Justice said "Britain has acquired enormous and incalculable prestige by arresting Pinochet..."
Welcoming the House of Lords decision, Sheila Cassidy, who was tortured in Chile during the dictatorship, said, "It's a great moment for England and for Chile. I feel proud to be English." Clary Torres, a Chilean exile in Britain, told the Daily Telegraph, "Our faith in British justice has been restored." Another exile living in Spain said, "Thank God for British justice."
Leaders of the Socialist Party (SP) and Communist Party (CP) in Chile joined celebrations of the verdict in Santiago at the headquarters of the Association of the Relatives of the Disappeared. Thousands of trade union fighters and others were executed, tortured, or exiled during the dictatorship. The SP and CP were members of the coalition government of SP leader Salvador Allende overturned in the 1973 coup, which was aimed at crushing growing struggles by workers and peasants. Both parties refused to arm workers and peasants to defend themselves as it became clear that the military was preparing a coup.
An article in the November 26 Daily Telegraph entitled, "Which leader will be next?" said that other capitalist governments in Europe were moving to assume powers to intervene in the affairs of oppressed countries under the guise of defending human rights. "Within the next few months, most of Europe could have asserted the right to try torturers and the architects of genocide, wherever those crimes occur."
During the French-African summit in Paris on November 28, two French human rights groups tried unsuccessfully to launch criminal proceedings against Laurent Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on alleged torture charges. Pressed on the matter by reporters who cited the arrest of Pinochet in Britain as a precedent, Charles Josselin, the French minister responsible for relations with African countries, said the only difference was Pinochet was no longer in power.
The British Labour government meanwhile has stuck to its line that the Pinochet affair is a "judicial" and not a political matter. But the London Times stated bluntly in an editorial, "The Pinochet case has had a political dimension ever since the first arrest warrant was issued." The Times editors, reflecting the debate in ruling circles, expressed concern that the House of Lords ruling left "the government of virtually any country exposed to internal terrorism vulnerable to prosecution."
The Economist dismissed these concerns and favorably reported the support given by the Labour government to a proposal to establish a tribunal to try Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
During a November 29 visit to Britain, Chilean foreign minister José Insulza, a member of Chile's Socialist Party, floated the idea of Pinochet being sent back to Chile to face charges there. This proposal was condemned by left-wing Labour Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn.
The stance by social democratic, centrist, and other forces of the bourgeois left has given an opening to the right wing to pose as defenders of national sovereignty.
Former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher and current Conservative leader William Hague called on Straw to use his executive powers and release Pinochet. Thatcher said "the national interests of both Chile and Britain" were being damaged by his detention. Hague condemned Labour's handling of the affair. Chile is "a long-standing ally of our country," he said.
Teresa Gorman, another Conservative, told Straw not to "kow- tow to his left-wingers. Pinochet should be allowed to go back to Chile."
In Chile, rightist supporters of the ex-dictator, who have posed as the defenders of Chilean national sovereignty, demonstrated in the capital Santiago on hearing the House of Lords' decision. British and Spanish flags were burned, the British embassy was pelted with eggs and tomatoes, and a BBC television news crew was violently attacked. Some Pinochet supporters called for another military coup. Several rightists were arrested.
Students and other opponents of Pinochet who also took to the streets in Chile were violently attacked by cops and arrested. Some of those who cheered the British court ruling and joined the anti-Pinochet protests in Chile marched with British flags.