Pinochet ruling ignites sparks in Chile

SANTIAGO (CHILE), AUG. 9. The Chilean Supreme Court issued its ruling on Tuesday to divest Gen. Augusto Pinochet of his senatorial immunity, removing a giant legal hurdle to charging the former dictator with involvement in the kidnapping, torture and murder of thousands of people during his 17-year rule.

The announcement, widely expected, was greeted here with the uncorking of bottles of champagne by hundreds of cheering demonstrators, who waved black-and-white photographs of their dead or missing loved ones. It also provoked some thinly veiled sniping between the President, Mr. Ricardo Lagos - the first Socialist to govern Chile since the Pinochet coup overthrew the President, Mr. Salvador Allende, in 1973 - and the army commander, who strongly defended the former dictator's place in history.

Gen. Pinochet is still a long way from serving time in prison, or even being tried. Conservative lawmakers said they would introduce legislation exempting him from facing a trial because of his health. He has diabetes and circulatory problems and has had three recent strokes. His family also takes the position that he should not stand trial because of these illnesses. The family said on Tuesday that it would fight a legal battle to prevent Gen. Pinochet (84), from being examined to determine whether he is mentally fit to stand trial, which the family considers humiliating.

Because of his status as a retired general, Pinochet has the right to choose the location of his interrogation by prosecutors. That privilege could allow him to specify that his questioning take place within a military building in an attempt to pit the armed forces against the government.

Nevertheless, Tuesday's decision was more than symbolic in importance because it would likely lead to the prosecution of dozens of other retired military and police officers for the executions and disappearances of more than 3,000 people.

The decision not only stripped Gen. Pinochet of his immunity but it also ratified a new legal doctrine that considers anyone who disappeared during the dictatorship and has not been found to be a kidnapping victim. Since the kidnapping would be considered still in progress, as the new legal interpretation goes, it could not be covered by an amnesty decreed while Gen. Pinochet was still in power. The amnesty granted immunity for political crimes committed during the early years of his government.

The judge, Mr. Juan Guzman, who is serving as the prosecutor, has based his case against Gen. Pinochet on the workings of a death squad led by aides close to him in the first months after the 1973 coup. The death squad has been held responsible for the disappearance of scores of people, 19 of whom are still missing and therefore are considered kidnapping victims.

Tuesday's decision provoked a bitter polemic between Mr. Lagos and Gen. Ricardo Izurieta. Since he replaced Gen. Pinochet as commander in chief of the army in early 1998, Gen. Izurieta has attempted both to coexist with two civilian Presidents and to keep right-wing elements at bay.

Gen. Izurieta visited Gen. Pinochet at his home on the outskirts of Santiago shortly after the decision was announced on Tuesday, saying, ``The Chilean army wanted to express its support at this difficult time.'' When asked if his visit had the government's approval, he shot back, ``As commander-in-chief, I do what I have to do.'' Without mentioning Gen. Izurieta by name or criticising his visit, Mr. Lagos went on television and clearly responded to the General's remarks, saying, ``The command of our country rests on what I decide.''

In recent days, top military commanders had warned that a ruling against Gen. Pinochet could inhibit military officials from coming forward with information about those who had disappeared - something the military pledged earlier this year that it would do. But on Tuesday, Gen. Izurieta said the armed forces would comply with its promise.

Gen. Pinochet's lawyers and other supporters contended that the court decision was totally political because, they said, everyone knew that the people who had disappeared were dead and that many could not ever be found because their bodies had been dumped into the ocean.

``It's an absurd decision based on a falsehood,'' said Sen. Jorge Martinez Bush, a conservative ally of the former dictator. ``This is a judicial fiction that will freeze the relationship between the civilian leadership and the military.'' The 14-6 Supreme Court vote upholding a lower court ruling was more one-sided than the tally was reported to be a week ago, when the outcome of the secret deliberations of the country's highest court was reported in some detail in the local press.

- New York Times

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