By Tito Drago
MADRID, Aug 9 1999 (IPS)

Attempts made through political channels to win the release of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and to prevent his extradition to Spain for trial, have little chance of succeeding, if last week’s events are an indication.

Representatives from the Chilean and Spanish governments held talks about possible arbitration in the case, and the Spanish public prosecutor’s office requested the release of Pinochet, dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990, who has been under house arrest in London since last October.

British officials have played down reports from Pinochet’s advisers indicating that the 84-year-old retired general is seriously ill.

Spanish jurists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political opposition parties are against any official attempt to win Pinochet’s release or to prevent his transfer to this country. His trial for extradition from Britain to Spain is set to begin in London September 27.

In written briefs, public prosecutor Pedro Rubira compares the former dictator to Spain’s King Juan Carlos and makes distinctions between types of torture in order to substantiate his request for the former dictator’s release.

Pinochet is being held in London as a result of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon’s request for his arrest and extradition last year. Based on the Garzon court’s investigation, the former dictator is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, kidnapping, torture and assassination.

Some 50 NGOs and labour unions sent a letter to the Spanish government Friday, demanding that it not interfere in the judicial process.

Though the government affirms that it will continue to respect the judiciary’s independence, its conversations with Chile about possible arbitration and the public prosecutor’s declaration of its opposition to the Pinochet trial have cultivate doubts about its true intentions.

The strongest force among the political opposition, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), accused the public prosecutor’s office Friday of acting under the orders of the executive power.

Chief prosecutor Eduardo Fungairiño of the National Court, where summary proceedings are held, has already opposed initiating legal proceedings against the former dictators of Argentina and Chile arguing that the military coups occurred as an attempt to save the constitutional order.

Now prosecutor Rubira – a subordinate of Fungairiño – has surprised everyone with his written opinions dated July 29, which were made public Friday.

Rubira maintains that Spanish law stipulates that for torture to be a crime, it must occur “during a police or judicial investigation with the intent to obtain a confession or testimony.”

He adds that this is not what occurred in Chile, because they “did not torture as part of investigations, but to create terror among the Chilean public or to obtain information about other people.”

Rubira, however, does not provide the information sources which allow him to affirm these were the goals of the Chilean torturers.

The public prosecutor also says he “doubts that a head of state could be the authority or official” subject to such law.

Rubira affirmed that, according to the Spanish Constitution, the king is not subject to responsibility and that the same type of immunity could be applicable in the Pinochet case.

The public prosecutor’s request has little chance of being approved, however, because superior judicial bodies have already decided in favour of trying Pinochet. The Supreme Court of Justice gave the strongest support in a unanimous declaration of the 11 members responsible for the decision.

A resolution on the public prosecutor’s written request will not be made until mid-September at the earliest, and Pinochet’s extradition proceedings are to begin in London on September 27.

Among professional organisations for judges, only the conservative Professional Association of the Magistrate agrees with the public prosecutor’s appeal.

In the political arena, the opposition PSOE and United Left (an alliance centred on the Communist Party) are joined by some of the government’s parliamentary partners in favour of Pinochet’s trial in Spain: the Basque and Catalonian nationalist parties – both moderate majorities in their respective regions.

“It is an embarrassment for Spain that there are prosecutors in the National court with a fascist mentality, who maintain that torture to create terror is legitimate and who compare the dictator Pinochet with King Juan Carlos,” stated Josep Lopez de Lerma, spokesman for the Catalonian Convergence and Union Party.

The PSOE’s foreign affairs officer, Rafael Estrella, demands that the government “put an immediate end to the complications in the Pinochet case,” and that it exercise its power to prevent the public prosecutor’s office from standing in the way of the proceedings.

The public’s general opposition to steps taken outside the courts on behalf of Pinochet is expected to influence the Spanish government’s future political stance. Aznar will be thinking about the nation’s general elections, which are to be held before March, though the date has not yet been determined.

The centrist sector of the electorate holds the swing vote that will determine whether the governing Popular Party or the PSOE wins, and it is very sensitive to cases like Pinochet’s.

The current political climate indicates it will be difficult to prevent Pinochet’s trial for extradition to Spain in accordance with British and Spanish legal declarations.

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