Lawyers: Strip Pinochet Of Immunity

A lawyer whose husband was among scores of dissidents killed after Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power in 1973 has asked a court to strip the former dictator of immunity so he can be tried in the killings.

But a lawyer for the former dictator said Pinochet is too ill to stand trial and isn't even aware of the human rights charges he might have to face.

"The health condition of Gen. Pinochet does not allow a fair trial for him," lawyer Ricardo Rivadeneira told the the Santiago Court of Appeals weighing the request to strip Pinochet's immunity.

Pinochet has immunity in his capacity as senator for life, a post he created for himself in the constitution written by his regime.

The attorney hoping to try Pinochet, Carmen Hertz, made the request to the court's 22 judges as the lawyer representing her son, German, who is one of the plaintiffs.

Hertz is the widow of Carlos Berger, one of 75 dissidents killed by the so-called "caravan of death," one of the most notorious cases of human rights violations during Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship.

The "caravan" was a military squad of officers who toured several Chilean cities by helicopter soon after the coup. They dragged 72 leftists from jail and executed them.

Hertz' husband was one of them. He had served 45 days of a 60-day sentence imposed by a military court when he was killed in October 1973.

"I was informed that they had all been killed in an escape attempt," Hertz told the judges. "That was the massacre we have all heard about."

Four lawyers representing other plaintiffs followed Hertz.

Hertz and the other lawyers alleged that the commander of the military officers, Gen. Sergio Arellano, had been assigned by Pinochet to speed up the trials of political prisoners and therefore was acting on his behalf.

"Arellano acted as a delegate of Pinochet," Hertz said.

Lawyer Eduardo Contreras insisted that Pinochet was responsible for the actions of the officers, and said they all were promoted after the bloody events.

Seven members of the caravan have been indicted in the case, including Arellano.

Contreras recalled that when Pinochet was under arrest in London fighting extradition to Spain, where a judge wanted to try him, "even his staunchest supporters claimed that Chile was the place where he should be tried."

"Well, the time of truth has come," Contreras added.

Pinochet was released by Britain after doctors there determined he was physically and mentally unfit for trial. He returned to Chile in March.

More than 3,000 people were killed or disappeared during Pinochet's regime.

The retired general returned to Chile in March, after 503 days under arrest in Britain, where he escaped extradition to Spain on the grounds that he was too ill to stand trial.

Even if Pinochet were stripped of his immunity, he still might not face a trial because of a la that grants amnesty to those responsible for human rights abuses caused by political violence between 1973 and 1978.

Plus, if the court agreed to strip Pinochet of his immunity, he could appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court.