UNITED KINGDOM: Pinochet case: fairness and transparency still in doub
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* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 020/00
AI Index: EUR 45/24/00
31 January 2000
Pinochet case: fairness and transparency still in doubt
The fairness and transparency of the procedure followed by the UK Home
Secretary to assess Augusto Pinochet s mental condition remain in doubt,
Amnesty International said today as the High Court denied six human
rights organizations permission to seek judicial review of Jack Straw s
preliminary decision.
The human rights organizations will now consider the implications of the
ruling and possible courses of action.
"We took action in court in an effort to ensure that all decisions in
the extradition proceedings are reached in a fair and transparent
manner," Amnesty International said. "Throughout the proceedings we have
called for justice not politics."
Amnesty International continues to call on the Home Secretary to honour
the requests made by the interested parties -- including Belgium,
France, Spain and Switzerland -- to allow them to nominate experts to
carry out another medical examination and to make the medical report
available.
"Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done," Amnesty
International concluded.
Background
An application for permission to seek judicial review of Jack Straw s
latest actions in the Pinochet case was submitted on 25 January by
lawyers representing Amnesty International, the Association of the
Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Persons in Chile, Human Rights
Watch, Justicia, The Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of
Torture, and Redress.
The court also denied Belgium, one of the four states requesting Augusto
Pinochet s extradition on charges of torture and "disappearance" (which
amounts to torture for the relatives of the "disappeared"), permission
to seek judicial review.
If the Home Secretary were to decide not to extradite Augusto Pinochet
to any of the four requesting states, then under the Convention against
Torture, he must refer the case to the prosecuting authorities for
investigation and possible prosecution.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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