By Tito Drago
MADRID, Jul 4 1996 (IPS)

Chile’s former dictator and current army chief General Augusto Pinochet was accused Thursday of the “universal” crimes of genocide and terrorism before a Spanish court.

Charges were also filed against three other members of the military junta that ruled Chile after socialist President Salvador Allende was overthrown on Sep. 11, 1973 – Admiral Toribio Merino and Generals Gustavo Leigh and Cesar Mendoza (all retired).

Pinochet headed an iron-fisted dictatorship that lasted until 1990, under which thousands of alleged “subversives” were tortured and “disappeared” at the hands of Chilean security forces.

The members of the European Union (EU) are empowered by their own laws as well as international treaties to try “universal” crimes – genocide, terrorism, piracy, counterfeiting, drug trafficking and the “white slave trade” – even if they were not committed in European territory.

The accusation filed before a court in the city of Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast was signed by Miguel Miravet as president of the Progressive Association of Prosecutors. Miravet is also head prosecutor of the Superior Court of Valencia, an autonomous community.

The suit takes on particular significance in the light of Spain’s Foreign Minister Abel Matutes’ declaration this week that if Spanish courts demand the extradition of members of Argentina’s de facto military regime (1976-83), the government will take up the case “with great interest.”

The accusation filed in Valencia invokes the universal jurisdiction on charges of terrorism and genocide. It also asks the judge to request the U.S. attorney-general for information from government agencies in the United States in connection with crimes against humanity committed under the Chilean dictatorship, in Chile or elsewhere.

The suit details the murder or “detention-disappearance” of people – including six Spanish citizens – under orders from the military junta. (In the case of disappearances, the individual’s release or death must be demonstrated).

The documents also describe the violent death of Allende during the Sep. 11 coup, and the 1974 murder of former army chief and vice-president of Chile, General Carlos Prats, killed in Buenos Aires along with his wife.

Also mentioned are the 1976 assassination of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier and his U.S. assistant Ronni Moffit in Washington, D.C., and the attempted murder of former vice-president Bernardo Leighton in Rome in 1975 and former senator Carlos Altamirano in Madrid in 1976.

Opponents of Pinochet and human rights organisations from around the globe publicly accuse the military junta of having ordered those attacks, and the countries where they were committed have not recognised the validity of the amnesty decreed in Chile for the perpetrators of human rights violations.

If the Spanish legal system finds the defendants guilty, the conviction would have two consequences. A warrant would be issued by the Interpol (International Police), meaning the accused would be arrested if they attempted to leave Chile. And Spain could request the extradition of the accused, subject to bilateral accords.

Precedents abound. Last week, a judge in Spain accepted a suit against members of military juntas that governed Argentina.

Argentine Navy Captain Alfredo Astiz was sentenced by default in France to life in prison for the murder of two French monks in Buenos Aires, and was also convicted in Sweden for the murder of a teenage boy, Dagmar Hagelin.

In Italy, some 90 members of Argentina’s military forces have been found guilty in connection with the murder or disappearance of Italian citizens in Argentina.

In the United States proceedings have been instituted against Argentine General Guillermo Suarez Mason, accused of torturing, kidnapping and disappearing people.

And a Boston federal judge convicted former Guatemalan defence minister Hector Gramajo by default in 1995 for the kidnapping and torture of Dianna Ortiz, a U.S. citizen, as well as demanding five million dollars in compensation.

Based on such precedents and the invocation of international treaties and legislation of EU member nations, the accusers of Pinochet and his cronies are confident that the defendants will be found guilty. The next challenge will be to get the sentences enforced.

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