Pinochet Stripped of Immunity in Chile

[Judi Lynn]

Pinochet Stripped of Immunity in Chile
By EDUARDO GALLARDO
Associated Press Writer

January 20, 2006, 9:37 AM EST

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Former dictator Augusto Pinochet on Friday was stripped of immunity from prosecution on charges involving 59 cases of torture and kidnapping at a secret detention center where hundreds of dissidents were held -- including President-elect Michelle Bachelet and her mother.

The president of the Santiago Court of Appeals, Juan Escobar, said the justices voted 13-5 to lift Pinochet's immunity, but the ruling must be upheld by the Supreme Court before the 90-year-old former strongman can be tried.

Bachelet and her mother, Angela Jeria, were arrested 15 months after the 1973 coup led by Pinochet and taken to Villa Grimaldi, where both were tortured. Their cases are not among the 36 kidnappings and 23 incidents of torture that led to the removal of the legal immunity Pinochet enjoys as former president.

Villa Grimaldi was one of the most notorious detention centers used by Pinochet's feared security services. The site, in a southern suburb of the capital, Santiago, has been turned into a memorial to victims of repression under Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-chile-pinochet,0,7933849.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Kissinger, left, Pinochet, facing camera


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exposing the Crime of Torture
Interviewed by Memoria y Justicia, May 2003

Factories of Terror
Repressive agents of the dictatorship subjected prisoners to torture since the very day of the military coup, September 11, 1973. Later torture was institutionalized by the DINA, the Comando Conjunto, and by the CNI secret police. It reemerges during the years of protest in the 1980s. Torture takes place under different contexts. It is important to point out that all political prisoners were subjected to torture. Not only did they endure unjustified political imprisonment but also direct torture. This alone makes them victims of human rights violations and gives them the right to demand and agitate the issue.

Within these former political prisoners subjected to torture, the survivors of torture centers are key. Their testimony allows us to continue filing cases against the factories of terror such as Villa Grimaldi, Venda Sexy, Jose Domingo Cañas, and other such places in which an entire structure existed to systematically apply torture. These were true torture factories designed to produce a determined result: confession, demoralization, and fear with the object of facilitating the break up of opposition to the military regime.

The torture centers involved the planned use of a facility for the purpose of exterminating a group, serve as secret prison, and generate serious effects of forced disappearance upon a particular social group. Therefore, the criminal methodology unit, the extermination unit, and the unit of perpetrators are one single team that act in concert with each other, which makes the issue complex.
(snip)

Child Hostages of the DINA
Two major types of legal cases arise from Villa Grimaldi: one on behalf of survivors and the other for executed prisoners. Another group that merits particular reproach is the case of child hostages. A criminal suit was filed for a group of minors who the DINA took as a means of pressuring their parents. Plaintiffs range from Macarena Aguilo who was 3 years old to Tito Peña and Hugo Chacaltana who were arrested at 16 and 17 years of age, respectively.
(snip/...)

http://www.memoriayjusticia.cl/english/en_issues-hiram.html

[emad]

1. YES!

Looking forward to the trial.

[0007]

3. So am I, I just wish it was thirty five years ago.

Do ya think Kissinger will testify in his defense, LOL! :eyes:

[no name no slogan]

4. He can't even leave the country these days

Kissinger is pretty much stuck in the US-- if he goes anyplace else (say, Spain, for example), he's liable to be arrested for his war criminal activities.

Maybe we'll see him on trial someday too. Maybe.

[0007]

6. Love to see it!

[emad]

2. Paper says Pinochet repeatedly forged wife's signature

Santiago.– Augusto Pinochet forged his wife's signature on several bank documents, according to a handwriting analysis completed on the orders of the judge investigating the former Chilean dictator's multimillion-dollar accounts, the press reported Thursday.

The analysis, which was submitted this week to Judge Carlos Cerda, concluded that Pinochet forged his wife's signature on 12 of 16 checks examined, the La Tercera newspaper said.

The handwriting experts focused on members of Pinochet's family and his close associates, the paper said.

The judge ordered the extensive analysis in response to a Dec. 28 report from a handwriting expert who concluded that the signature on a good number of the bank documents that implicated Lucia Hiriart, Pinochet's wife, were forgeries.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=9499

[Judi Lynn]

5. Great! Pile on those charges. She's still in this, however, along with the

son, according to what I've heard.

[emad]

7. Mrs P and Lady Thatcher share a wigmaker?

and maybe plastic surgeon.